Skybound/Image Comics 2014
Written by Chris Dingess
Illustrated by Matthew Roberts
Coloured by Owen Gieni
As crazy as this sounds I want to be exploring this wilderness with Lewis & Clark because this world is utterly crazy, fascinating and terrifying. Well I don’t want the blue bear bird creature to take a bite outta my arm like it does Mister Etten but for the opportunity to see a world like this i’d jump at the chance. The imagination runs wild here and even though some it is incredibly alien in nature it’s all so vivid and alive.
Alright there are moments that are humorous and they are meant to be and teh dialogue here is utterly fantastic. As the guys don’t want the bird harmed if possible no one really wants to go near it but they do end up bagging it and getting it off him. It’s the little things that make or break a book and here they all work together to create something special. The interior artwork and facial expressions with the wounds we see as well as the trees, the colours all of it together help complete the story.
Meanwhile there’s something serious wrong with Sacajawea. Yes she’s pregnant but there’s something more going on here and whether that’s due to the land of the wildlife we don’t know but it adds something darker to the story that is unexpected. While the Doctor wants to keep an eye on her it’s Clark that well seems more concerned than Sacajawea. The way these characters are written and the dialogue is so done so that we get a sense of who they are and while they might not all get along their interaction is just so superbly written. You get a sense of family, dysfunctional to say the least or just because they’ve spent this much time together in life threatening situations that there’s a real familiarity between them.
Also Lewis narration through his journal really goes a long way fleshing out characters, situations and predicaments they all find themselves in. It’s wonderful tool really and the way Chris does it because you see it’s his words, Lewis’, and his unique viewpoint. While he dozes he really hope that none of the crew kill the little creature and it’s Sheets who is on guard and well he disappears during his shift. If you need to see what takes him get the book but if this is what the little guy grows up to be then oh snap! Yeah uhm Matthew and Owen if I dream about this tonight i’m blaming you two!
Oh Pryor is the man who thinks he should be in charge of this expedition and well here he gets his chance to challenge the pair for control. He has his own faction behind him, the soldiers they were forced to take on and there’s one Finn Fricke who is well a brute of a man and very much a woah daddy type. So how this confrontation will play out we’ll have to wait till next issue. Maybe this series restarted a trend to tell historical fiction using real characters and putting them in situations they could never have.
This is very much to me groundbreaking material. It’s gorgeously rendered and expertly told and it’s high on my list of all time favorite series.