Aftershock Comics 2017
Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Juan Doe
Lettered by Ryane Hill
Something vile is lurking just beneath the surface of the fathomless floodwaters. As the rivalry between the various factions of monsters heats up on Shrae's Ark, an evil from below rises to threaten every human life on board the vessel.
Alright ya know what Cullen has an amazing mind, imagination and the dark side of him getting to unleash itself should scare the hell out of everyone! No the idea of a Dark Ark isn’t as ominous as you think at first but as the issues continue to roll in it becomes more and more clear just how incredibly dangerous the whole thing really is. We’ve already seen one death and the fallout from that is what we are getting this issue as Shrae questions everyone, well almost.
I adore the way this book is being structured. The ebb & flow here is spectacular to see and as we get to see more and more individuals the variety of species on board here is presented to us nicely. A lot of these aren’t ones you’ll find outside of lore or the Brother’s Grimm’s tales and I have to say that the cover here fooled me nicely as I thought perhaps the sea monsters were going to come into play, and let’s face it there are plenty of species that thrive in the oceans that are made legend. The writing and characterisation is strong and solid stuff so that we get to see the different monsters as both afraid and united.
Because I just talked about the different species this leads directly into the imagery and I’m not a fan of Juan Doe and the work he does here. This is an opportunity to showcase some crazy good solid detail and scare the pants off people. Instead Nex feels like Him in Anime and the body proportions make absolutely no sense I mean that tiny head and those huge hands there’s no way you can tell me that’s perspective. I wish the nine panel pages that had the interrogation going on also had a box stating what each was because from looking at them I have absolutely no clue what they are supposed to be. This is a problem even more so when a talking tree is present and there’s no resemblance to an actual tree in it, it looks like a Scarecrow. There really is nothing to like or appreciate, from my point of view, about the work he does here. Also it’s extremely rare for a Unicorn to have a black horn that makes no sense and gets lost among the monsters when we do see them.
Fortunately Cullen is one of those writers who has the skill and imagination to actually overcome bad interior artwork. The actions we see taken against Shrae were ones that I was hoping would unleash the bad sorcerer that we’ve heard about but haven’t seen. The conversation between he and Nex amidst the monsters below deck is epic! I mean if words could wound they would have and oh my goodness that was delivered beautifully. The fact that things play out the way they do is pretty interesting though I do wonder how many of each species is actually on board here. I mean I’d get 2 since yeah 2 by 2 they entered the ark but this one’s much different. It seems there are a lot of species and many of them on board.
Regardless of the musings of my mind what Cullen brings to us is pure story, sure there could be some infighting and whatnot but honestly this is a cerebral kind of book. It has to be they are secluded with one another on the waters that cover the earth by the work of God after all. The antithesis to Noah so expect a lot of dialogue and mystery surrounded by intrigue because that’s the space available, unless the events from this issue re-write the book. Incredibly good ending here with some spectacular moments that leave us with that cliffhanger we all dread and love!