Oni Press 2014
Written by Charles Soule
Illustrated by Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque
Coloured by Sarah Stern
Lettered by Crank!
Instead of destroying another of Jupiter’s moons, the Chandelier—now made more powerful by the crew of the Clarke—turned the gasses of Jupiter into enough energy to fire a shot deep into space. The light from this shot was the signal Drum had warned Blades of. It marks the beginning of the end of the world. But now it seems the Builders are finished. There are other targeted sentients in the universe, and it seems Earth is only one of many planets that will be destroyed as the Builders attempt to stop what they’ve unleashed
Every time we learn something new that we think will change the course of things Charles goes and gives us something new and changes the whole scope of the story leaving us scratching our heads in amazement. After the crew of the Clarke boarded and gave their service to the Builders and with Pritchard now able to understand a bit of their language the true purpose of the Chandelier is revealed.
The way that Charles has this story unfold and progress is fantastically done. It’s almost like every issue is essential to the countdown to the destruction of Earth and saving those lives that Gabriel told the President to assemble. It’s drawn out a bit and yet it still feels like each issue brings us one step closer to that event that will change the world as we know it forever. The pacing is incredible in that regard. So much information and characterisation is happening here and it all feels like it’s what need to know in order to fully understand what’s going on. The tension it leaves for the upcoming end of the run just leaves you with that anticipation that you can’t shake.
Alberto and Sarah do some great work on the interiors here. The flow of the book through the page layouts with the use of angles, perspective and the attention to detail in the backgrounds really makes the book as intricate as the story. The way the characters look and the emotion they are able to give off add to the tension of what’s to come beautifully.
This whole series has been one amazing revelation after another and each one drastically changes the course of events we see unfold. You can never predict what is coming next and that alone is one of the fascinating aspects of what Charles is doing. With this level of storytelling and characterisation from multiple viewpoints and angles it’s no wonder that it’s consistently one of the most interesting reads month after month.