Dark Horse Comics 2017
By Carlos & Miguel Valderrama
After being saved by a group of surface-dwelling teens who call themselves the Forsaken, and uneasy Gogi is eager to return to his home in Under-Ground City—but before he does, a dangerous task lies before him. Meanwhile, Zedo, the brother-in-arms Gogi left for dead after an attack by a monster, is now close to fulfilling his goal as an essential part of the biggest gang of them all!
There really is something special about this book as both boys think the other one is dead and are leading different and parallel lives. This issue we open with Zedo who last issue arrived back with the Ambernoir and this issue leads them to the cache that he left to return home. The hardship of gang life when you really have no other option living in the Under-Ground City is beautifully demonstrated with this segment. I feel for Zedo I do and the way we see him grow and evolve throughout this issue alone is stunning in its scope.
Gogi who is awfully eager to go home after all that he’s been through with these new friends of his is a bit different. Feeling guilty about leaving Zedo he has this lost sense of loyalty and feels returning home will somehow be able to absolve his feelings. From everything we see it feels like almost like a betrayal of my own that I root for Gogi to succeed and be happy in his new life while feeling that Zedo is more trouble than he’s worth and in way over his head. That one instant that changed their lives forever set them on two extremely different paths and it’s so easy to see how it’s changing them.
The writing, the structure of the book and it flows is spectacular to see. There is this kind of magic to what the brothers can do and how that translates to the page and the way we see it really does amaze me. From the loss of innocence of one and the ability to keep it for the other has this unexpected effect on my soul. There is this piercing of what we perceive in these events that makes us happy, sad and hopeless & hopeful all in the same breath. It is an occurrence that just doesn’t happen all that often and when it does you sit up and take notice.
The interiors here do a marvellous job in setting up and complimenting the way we feel about the characters. From the way they dress to their accoutrement it defines where they come from. The way page layouts are used so that we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a strong eye for storytelling. The backgrounds we see are extremely well utilised and I love how they expand the scope of their respective worlds. The imagination and creativity we see, particularly in the monsters and the bugs is spectacular.
I like seeing how the bonds of friendship are formed by both boys. Their worlds so vastly different and how they go about facing their fears and demons and rising above them is portrayed so very well. While one rises to power through combat and death the other finds a way to earn trust and friendship through actions. What would their lives be like if they had traded places is anyone’s guess but things are playing out this way and there is something about this that feels right and true to each boy.
There are some amazing stories in comics right now and they all seem to come out of the blue in the most unexpected of places. This for me is definitely one of them and continues to show why Dark Horse isn’t much of a Dark Horse anymore.