Black Mask Studio 2016
Written by Tony Patrick
Illustrated by Ayhan Hayrula & Brian Level
Coloured by Doug Garbark
Lettered by Jim Campbell
A staff member from the X'ED Initiative is injected into the Innerverse with the aim of retrieving and saving subliminal hitman Colin McClure from certain death. Meanwhile, Colin himself confronts the real nemesis lurking beneath a patient's consciousness and unleashes an unconventional solution to all of her past traumas.
I’m so intrigued by the whole premise of this book. I’m just sad it’s been almost a year between issues three and four. On the bright side however it really is quite easy to pick up and remember what’s happening here. So we’re in the mind of Colin as Wendell goes in to retrieve him after the subject he was in dies that’s how we’re picking up here.
I have to say that the imagination on display here is utterly magnificent to see. We’re talking inside the mind so what we see isn’t going to be standard and it’s shaped by a combination of the subject who you are in and the one “intruding” into that landscape. The body’s own defenses are in play here too so all in all what we see visually is both fun, interesting and a myriad of craziness that makes little sense and yet completely works as we think it should.
Colin has to complete his journey with Ms. Lemonson and while he’s doing that the company around him is in upheaval. Not only do we see Wendell volunteer to enter Colin’s mindscape but we are treated to what’s happening with Nesbit, his wife and Rayna. The Cadre’s got plans and thanks to Alyss and what Nesbit did to her well we’re getting a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that kind of tie directly into what Wendell and Colin are going through.
The way Tony is able to weave the different aspects of what is happening this issue into the larger picture is great to see. It’s fun, interesting and each action seems to have a direct reaction to everything else that’s going on. One miscalculation or misstep and things could plunge deeper into the toilet. There’s something fascinating about the way that a corporation like this attempts to make breakthroughs the way they are attempting. Aside from the science aspect, which I want more of, there’s the corporate, hostile at that, angle that comes into play which threatens to jeopardise what is hoping to be achieved.
The blend of corporate espionage or something akin to that blended with the science fiction aspect of entering people’s minds to erase memories or overcome them depending and then taking it to a place Tony does this issue well it’s rather something ambitious. With bold storytelling and a cast of characters of whom you don’t know who to like this is one of those that will make you think about what is, what could be and should we.