IDW Publishing 2015
Created & Written by H.S. Tak
Illustrated by Amancay Nahuelpan
Coloured by Sebastian Cheng
Lettered by Dezi Sienty
I have to say the opening of this issue intrigued me quite a bit. I’m actually quite a fan of wordless storytelling just letting the visuals tell the story so this was fantastic. From what I can see it seems that a virus is going to hit Paris thanks to an arrival or departure from Charles de Gaulle airport. Add this to what’s already been happening and the intrigue factor gets way upped. Then there’s the girl misdirecting the guy following him yeah that was cool.
When the story does start the opening becomes even more clear and even more frightening in it’s scope. I love how Tak is telling this story. Regardless of advances in technology cloning of humans is still considered a no-no but greedy, money hungry corporations will work around that to ensure they have the means to thrive. Greed and power are at the base of many discoveries but when those are your motivating factors the flip side of that when it all goes wrong and you realize that the control you thought had was an illusion well that’s when it really gets interesting.
What we saw at the airport and with our main character, Jadas, on the run and how the two are connected while is something I should have seen I didn’t and that’s thanks to how Tak’s able to keep you mind running around the story. Jadas meanwhile is talking to the man about his dad and well i’m never quite sure how that’s going because he seems to be so nasty and sarcastic to Jadas. It’s almost as if you aren’t sure he’s taking anything seriously or just humoring him after arresting him and letting him go.
Sylvia is his saving grace if you will. She tells her ex that Jadas is a client but really they have a connection and I love that she nonchalantly compares him to Dolly. If he’s willing to share all this information there is much more between them than we’re seeing and with what happens next well here’s hoping her role isn’t going to just be someone he runs to.
This issue is full of surprises for me. Among them is after having his ass saved he goes off and does something incredibly stupid right off the bat. Well actually he seems to make a string of stupid decisions and while he’s supposed to be a Doctor, Scientist or whatever he is he doesn’t demonstrate the ability to think. While I understand the desire to find out who you are, i’m adopted so that resonates, you have think things through, be logical about what you are doing and not blindly rush into situation unprepared and underskilled. However that’s part of why he’s so much fun to watch a time bomb waiting to go off.
I’m also increasingly becoming more and more of a fan of Amancay and Sebastians’ work. The attention to detail the page layouts, panel usage and like I mentioned earlier telling the story through their work really impressed the heck out of me. Part of me wishes I read Chinese so I could say for certain what those awnings were really saying but I want to believe they were researched so that the stands writings matches the visuals. Either way for me it’s a great representation of where he’s at. Oh and the wallpaper we see in one room, dayum that’s tight!
IDW has a knack for finding creator’s and properties that leave a big impact upon the reader. They seem to be able to find what’s current, hot and what people want to read. This is one of those projects.