Image Comics 2015
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Declan Shalvey
Coloured by Jordie Bellaire
I have no idea what the heck is going on here and ya know what I’m okay with that. It’s kind of par for the course with Warren and it’s what makes things so darn interesting and it’s good, fascinating and intense in ways that you find yourself wanting to come back and figure just what the heck is going on. These characters are actually diverse, intelligent and intriguing people so as we learn about them again you get that desire to learn more about them.
I’m a big fan of Declan’s work and with Jordie here they manage to do some incredibly good stuff. Oh now that the Professor, Maria, has come out of that room we see her and the folks at the facility and the pallor of her skin and her gauntness comes across more dramatically. There really isn’t much about this issue that doesn’t visually come across dramatically from Paris to New York the way they bring the drama to life really is fantastic.
I have to say that we spend so much time with Simeon today is great as the opportunity to learn more about him is appreciated. With his discussion with Vivek, which now makes me hope that next issue is a spotlight on him and what he brings to the group, as a starting point helps to define him and the kind of man he is. The characterization we get on him is excellent and seeing him in action as a calm cool and collected agent who goes about his business in the manner in which he does speaks volumes. Including the hiccup in his current mission while sets him back slightly his moves and brains help him get the job done.
I like the way that each of the team members gets a small spotlight as well. Showing that while we can focus on one person that doesn’t mean that the rest get neglected and their own importance to the story continues to be moving forward. This also demonstrates that while they are important to what’s going to happen the mystery of how and why remains unknown keeping that sense of intrigue strong.
The end of the issue focuses what’s happening in that computer enclave and it is rather surprising and I cannot wait to see how this action came to be. Sure the guy was in a very bad way and looked really beat up and almost gone but for her to have taken such drastic action like she did is something I look forward to hopefully learning about.
So we’ve got this great mix of characters here who have this history with each other and what they do and and their work really remains ambiguous and it’s interesting enough and so smartly done that you have that desire to learn more. You can speculate on what it’s about all you like but even for someone like me who does that with everything I read there’s too little real information to do so accurately which is the main draw that will keep me coming back.