Image Comics 2015
Written by Alex De Campi
Illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil
Coloured by Jenn Manley Lee
We left last issue with the Coyote’s attacking and eating the dead on the bus the deaf kid, Anthony, and Travis are on top of the bus while Charlene and Chad are inside. This gets pretty intense too I mean this brother/sister hate relationship is really something crazy to see. I mean it’s nice to see Charlene find her backbone here after what Chad did but c’mon do you seriously think it’s okay to do that to someone else let alone family? Okay I’m assuming they are siblings (fraternal twins even) but damn Ladies this is some characterization/writing happening here that took us there!
Oh my god I am seriously beginning to wonder if these kids will survive each other long enough to even be rescued. One girl, Tiffani (?), is lost over losing her friend, who needs to be buried she’s looking worse than any zombie we’ve seen but way to go Carla and Jenn because that’s some serious anatomy class happening right there! Captain Badass, Anthony, is deaf and going off with Sister Inez to find the nearest town 20 miles away. The siblings are murderous towards one another and if they should really go at each other there’s no one left here to stop them.
I was worried that they’d be sought after from the drug cartel for all that cocaine on the bus, which may just all blown up now after what happened and what Charlene did to some of the Coyotes. Then they’d be on the run from them and have that looming over them plus the added fact of those Coyotes who see them as easy prey I never thought a greater threat would come from within the group but i’m beginning to think I know absolutely nothing about this series or what I should or should not expect to happen. Alex is doing something rarely done and she’s completely stymied me with how this book is going to go and I love that!
So from here on out i’m coming into this with no expectations and i’m going to try to refrain from guessing what’s coming next for this group. As hard as that may be to do I’m confident that this series is going to be full of surprises, twists and excellent characterization through the storytelling. I’ve enjoyed the first two issues greatly but this one just catapulted it into that top of the pile read status.
I can pretty much guarantee this isn’t what you are expecting it to be and it’s like nothing else you are currently reading. While this issue the death count didn’t rise I wouldn’t expect that to be the norm after what we saw in the first two issues but perhaps over the course of the story some of them will actually survive.
The interior artwork as I’ve touched on before is pretty darn good too. Each character’s personality is seen on their face and nothing is done so unrealistically that it seems either superhuman or too cartoony in nature.
If you haven’t read this yet consider this your invitation because this is something that shouldn’t be missed!