Dynamite Entertainment 2017
By Lights
Skin & Earth is a story of a girl looking for hope in a hopeless world. Caught between romance and cults, gods and mortals, and just trying to find a good borscht, Enaia Jin is lead down a dark path by new lovers that reveal a twisted fantasy world and her own true nature. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where corporations rule, this adventurous tale of loneliness, deceit and self-discovery begins here!
Familiar, different, unique yeah they can all be used to describe this and all at the same time. The earth is ravaged by man, those with the means build a wall and keep out the “undesirables” and with some luck one manages to work her way into the walls to attend university to better herself. It’s not exactly groundbreaking but is an incredibly solid foundation which to build upon.
I had to look up Lights, she’s a Canadian Singer Songwriter, and this book is also the title of her next album. The songs are being released alongside the issues until the entire album has been released. Now honestly I wish this had more publicity and been talked about more because I might actually have tried to find her music and listened to it before reading this issue. Heck I might have looked her up and seen if I knew any of music before now as well. This is one instance where Dynamite dropped the ball.
That Lights is the driving force behind this and writes, illustrates and does the whole kit and kaboodle should be applauded. I like it I think she’s got hella talent. I like the use of page layouts here through their angles and perspective. The attention to detail and how she brings the buildings to life through both the new and old gives us great perspective and feeling, see emotions. Her people are fantastic and honestly i’m super impressed.
Enaia is a great character we see her present and are introduced to a bit of her past this issue. Lights does a great job with fleshing out her character and helping us kind of understand her a bit, just a bit mind you there’s still plenty of mystery about her. Who knew that writing songs could translate into writing a whole comic? Well I shouldn’t be surprised really Gerard Way is doing it as well. Personally i’m all for the branching out and being creative in every way you possibly can be.
We learn a bit why she’s going to university, how she can afford it and what those inside the walls think of her. We even get a glimpse of what she wants to do there and the reality of what she’s learning. She’s kind of like this lost little girl seeking something, I don’t think she has a clue what she’s looking for but that’s okay sometimes it finds you instead. I have a feeling with the way we’re seeing this already that Lights is heading in that direction and i’m interested in seeing where this will lead.
Will she find herself, a way to make the world a better place or just find happiness once and for all? We’ll see and along the way find her music and enjoy the soundtrack that goes along with the story.