Aspen Comics 2018
Written by Ron Marz
Illustrated by Siya Oum
Coloured by Peter Steigerwald & John Starr
Lettered by Zen
The advancement of The Blue has expanded beneath—and above—the water into every fabric of human society. Aspen, with her immense power of The Elite Blue and complete knowledge of her true family, now finds herself alone as the central figure holding both civilizations’ fates together…
Well if there’s one thing I have to say is this has remained pretty damn consistent throughout the volumes in terms of characterisation and story advancement. Aspen has been a poster child for strong women of conviction for some time now and it’s nice to see that this continues. Basically she’s the Laura Croft of the oceans and I pity anyone who crosses her in any way shape or form.
This volume certainly opens up with a bang that’s for sure. I mean that was a pretty intense fight scene and the results of which are going to have far reaching consequences and that’s beyond the mere fact that Finn is Aspen’s brother. What Ron is aptly demonstrates however is that this is what is needed in an opening to grab the readers attention and make them want to see more. It’s the hook, line and sinker that will ensure a reader wants to know and see more. I have to say that I really do think Ron is capable of telling any story of any genre with apparent ease.
I am a fan of how Ron has structured this book. If you have never read an issue of Fathom before, I am totally shocked, than it’s great jumping on point. There is a new man in town, government issue and complete of the assembly line. We all hate and love government officials especially the U.S. kind as they have this complete sense of everything is there’s and that’s that. The playground bully in full effect the sad part is there isn’t even a question about if what they are doing is right or wrong, as they have the power they automatically right. So boorish and oh so true.
As the new guy introduces himself to Aspen to brief her on current events, see her brother, and to inform her that he’s her new liaison he makes a few key mistakes. Before that can happen however he gets the background version on Aspen from her mouth until he makes that one mistake above all others. Then if he could have unleashed hell it would’ve been a whole lot nicer. This is what a first issue of volume 7 should be, a great jumping on point for new readers that allows us to get behind her and understand her as a person.
The interior artwork here is phenomenal. Siya is an amazing artist and illustrator and she’s a delightful person to meet, she did me an Evil Ernie. The grace and beauty she’s able to bring to this is superb and her attention to detail and the way she can manipulate the varying weights of the linework is stunning to me as she creates the most delicate intricacy alongside some strong bold lines. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off her amazing eye for storytelling. While I would like to see more backgrounds what we do get is fantastic in expanding the moment in the story.
I like how the issue ends as it explains the opening. It also gives us exactly the how and why of what is going on here. I am certainly left with this sense of impending doom as Aspen has to find her brother before it’s too late in more ways than one. This is why Aspen can still be considered one of the industry’s most influential company’s.