Oni Press 2017
Written by Christopher Sebela
Illustrated by Robert Wilson IV
Coloured by Nick Filardi
Designed by Dylan Todd
Lettered by Crank!
There must be 50 ways to leave your lover, but none of them include robbing a Fleetwood Mac concert and escaping to Canada with a getaway driver and a group of anarchists. Putting Mercer and her life of crime in the rearview, Callie tries her damnedest to live a normal life, hideout from the FBI and make sense of Canadian currency. As her friends continue pulling crimes and Callie dips her toe back in the dating waters, she’ll find out when you share your heart with someone, breaking up is way harder to do.
Well now I was wondering if we’d seen the last of Callie and Scout after the first arc. I’m glad that wasn’t the case because here we are in the thick of the seventies with feathered hair and funky fashions and all kinds of criminal mayhem. I have to admit part of me loves that Callie finally got rid of her excuse, I mean boyfriend aka heart donor, and is living her life the way she should. Well as she wants to at least.
The characterisation here is already exactly what I was kind of hoping for. I mean c’mon Callie and Scout went to Canada and Callie went straight, kinda. So this issue we see what the ladies have been up to since getting into Canada and it’s pretty much what we’d expect. Callie turned to a life of crime because of the heart transplant and her imaginary criminal lover donor but Scout was a driver long before they met. So seeing what the women were up to isn’t that much of a surprise.
I’m a fan of the artwork here. Why because it’s just fun and the creativity and imagination are splendid, we see a lot Canadian Maple Leaf hockey jerseys. The hairstyles and clothes are magnificent to see. The use of page layouts through angles and perspective are handled extremely well. Even backgrounds are used in great ways, not to mention seeing the wallpaper pattern, would I like to see the in every panel yes but sometimes that’s not realistic unfortunately.
However seeing Callie be conflicted about her life and not knowing which life she wants to lead that is delightful. Why because as a reader and fan I know where I want to see it go but does that line up with what Christopher has in store? Find out for yourself what he has in store for her in season two and thrill once again to seeing Callie and Scout try to figure out what it is they do best!
This is the future of storytelling, individual arcs that make up seasons like we find with shows on Netflix or through the BBC. Short, sweet and succinct and told completely until the next one’s ready leaving us that nice feeling of anticipation between them.