A weekly column in which Jake gives
short blurbs about the comics he’s
picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by
increasing anticipation. Disclaimer: he
knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such
tremendous undertakings, so…yeh,
there’s that.
Survivors’ Club #3
Writers: Lauren Beukes & Dale
Halvorsen
Artist: Ryan Kelley
Colorist: Eva De La Cruz
Letterer: Clem Robins
Vertigo
There’re payoffs galore in this third issue of the delightfully
creepy series from Vertigo. Some of the
survivors pick up the pieces (heh) after last month’s violent climax and we get a better look at two of the
characters’ particular
curses. As it turns out, Kiri’s situation was hinted at in
the earlier issues and was executed in this one so well that I actually went
back and read both just to see every time it popped up. It really is a mark of what I’d guess (process-wise) is
excellent directing by Beukes & Halvorsen and execution by letterer
Robins. The second backstory, Simon’s, is a bit more of a swerve
and one that leads to more questions than answers, which is refreshing at this
stage as the others’ can
be guessed at with finite degrees of certainty.
Kelly, meanwhile, is finally given a lot to play with and, for the most
part, excels. The finally revealed
character designs of Mr. Empty and Auntie are well done and great homages to
their separate source material, though the sequence in which Auntie appears
could have done with more space. This is
likely a scripting issue moreso than an art one, as there’s a sequence midway through the
book that feels like padding and probably could have been excised for more
space. Still, it doesn’t detract from the best issue
of the run so far, but, if the last-page teaser is any indication, Survivors’ Club #3 won’t hold that distinction for
long.
The Vision #2
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
The Vision #2 takes some time to deal
with the fallout of last issue’s
climatic events, and by that I mean Virginia’s brutal killing of the Grim Reaper (the super villain,
again). For a series predicated on the
alien exploration of emotions, it's the perfect move on King’s part. We get to see how Vin deals with with his
sister’s incapacitation
(not well) and the lie Virginia tells her husband about the Grim Reaper’s fate and the potential
ramifications of that lie. Vision’s confrontation with the school
principal is fantastic on every level: from dialogue to narration to
expressions. Walta continues to be on
top of the art game, nailing both the dread-filled scenes as well as the touching
ones. His choice of perspectives are
rather inspired and keep each page feeling fresh despite the lack of “action” between them.
Bellaire’s color
choice reds and yellows for the visual of Virginia’s lie is interesting beyond just being appealing. It almost gives the impression of heat vision
which is a neat trick considering the protagonists. It’s
a similarly strong outing from the creepiest Marvel book to date.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
The Woods #18
http://www.comicbookresources.com/imgsrv/preview/0/0/1/Woods-018-A-Main-aeee1.jpg
Writer: James Tynion IV
Illustrator: Michael Dialynas
Colors: Jose Gonzalez
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Boom! Studios
As Casey and Taisho’s plan is revealed, we get a
glimpse into the life of young Casey and Calder in the days after their parents
died. It's a poignant issue, one that
explains Casey and how he came to be what he is—awful—without
trying to make us sympathize with him, which is for the best. More than anything it exposes more of the
hurt Casey has and continues to cause in Calder’s life. Though his motivations throughout their life have
changed, the damage remains the same.
While the the issue mainly focuses on the Macready brothers, there is
some time devoted to the other members of the choice (though the consequences
of Issac’s damning choice
last issue are conspicuously absent).
Maria deals with her loss in the worst way and Karen and Taisho have a
particularly foreboding confrontation.
Dialynas squeezes the best emotion and feeling out of these scenes and
he and Gonzalez make a glorious return to the series’s penchant for actual horror. The promise of terrible events soon to come
in the arc’s climax is
strong in this issue and should make the next all the better.
So what did you pick up this week? Were
your choices as beautifully gloomy as mine? Agree or disagree with anything
said here? Let us know in the comments.
Labels: Boom Studios, Comics, Marvel Comics, Survivor's Club, The Vision, the Woods, Vertigo
