
Top Cow/Image Comics 2015
Written by Bryan Hill & Matt Hawkins
Illustrated by Isaac Goodhart
Coloured & Edited by Betsy Gonia
I’m a solid fan of this series and as each issue comes out and we learn more and more about Mark’s mother and the people of Eden the story becomes more complex and interesting. Laura, Mark’s mother and the Sheriff are a complex pair and while I doubt it’s really true love that keeps them together it does have this weird appeal that they have this relationship that goes beyond their stations. You can tell Mag really wants her to think of him like she did Mark’s father but she has such a complicated past that it’s hard to break through all her defenses.
As we finally get our first good look at her and what she’s been through up till now that’s actually kind of made her into the cold hearted hardened woman we’ve come to know. As the mystery of Laura’s husband deepens and his role in both her life, Mark’s and the town of Eden’s becomes more clear through snippets like this the larger picture becomes more clear.
While I still feel as if there’s this huge supernatural presence behind everything but I could be wrong and it could boil down to nothing more than the worst human nature has to offer to create a town where the people can run their own lives as they see fit as far from traditional governmental rule as they can possibly get. Of course trying to do that has resulted in why Maggie is here and the FBI has it on their radar but they are pretty low on the scale of things that are happening here.
This town is so full of secrets and Laura’s are by far and away the most interesting and deadly around. That she has this underground safe house type place hidden geniusly by an outhouse of all things that’s full of gold bars, of which one is missing is this whole crazy idea. This whole underground shelter thing is crazy cool I mean she’s got this whole Fort Knox kind of thing going on with high tech electronic keypad to open it it’s all so very different from you see in this town and it just adds to the whole mystique of this place.
There really is some absolutely great characterization going on here with the Mayor and how she handles her private life and those in the town and she can be a hardass yes but she can also be compassionate as well and it’s interesting to see both of those on display so close together, panel to panel together. Part of me wants to change how I feel about her after reading this issue the other half not so much since she obviously has embraced who she is and feels its her obligation and duty to keep this town running the way it is and being who she is but unwilling to compromise who she is either.
Isaac and Betsy bring this to life wonderfully. Sure these folks are completely normal, non superhuman or supernatural in nature, and they are of various ages and ailments so what they manage to do in creating all these characters so completely is really nice to see. I have to admit that I love the hard and soft imagery mixed together here, when we see Laura in the now and the past it’s such a different woman going from the indoor shower to that in the rain and it’s interesting to see that brought to life like this.
That Top Cow shows such diversity in their projects from futuristic and fantastic to such powerful character driven stories like this one showcase the importance of reading such a well rounded and diverse set of stories.
Powerfully written with interesting characters that continue to surprise you this is human nature at it’s most interesting and dark so take a journey through the town of Eden and see why this is one of those books I enjoy so much.