Image Comics 2018
Written by Jody Leheup
Illustrated by Nathan Fox
Coloured by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Steve Wands
Designed by Tom Muller
Cut off, on the run, and hunted by The Marshal, Nathan and Cross try to stay alive long enough to find Nathan’s lost memory and the key to stopping another world-ending attack. But they’ll have to survive each other first…
I am a fan of this book, it’s the right kind of off the wall not linear thinking that is right up my alley. I mean Ian becomes Nathan to forget what he ad inadvertently done, if I remember that flashback correctly, and now Nathan is the most wanted man in the universe and without the skills he needs to survive. So naturally nothing is going to go right for Nathan now is it?, I mean where would the fun be in that?
I like the opening here mainly because it serves so many purposes. It isn’t as if it needs to be that eye catching moment that makes the reader want to continue, by now everyone should have heard of this, however on the off chance they haven’t well this certainly should grab your attention. Azim is broken out of a cell, butt ass naked and unfortunately and giving us a little show, and the way the whole scenario plays out is amazingly twisted and totally mind-bending in that shame on me I was completely fooled. The dialogue and the artwork make this what it is and honestly the characterisation that it presents not only make me shudder with fear but also with delight and I am not sure it’s supposed to.
The way the book is structured is very well done and considering the opening is 1/3rd of the book well that’s saying something. I do enjoy seeing Nathan and Cross being forced to travel through the jungle on foot and while Nathan is still trying to fully grasp what is happening to him she’s pissed as hell for having to put up wit him. The characterisation is really on point all around here and I am enjoying watching their evolution as they find their way back to civilisation. Even then with the animosity and the way it looks there might have been something a little deeper going on considering the different personalities involved and honestly I think it’s Nathan who impresses me the most.
Nathan and Dave do some really nice work on the interiors here. There is some interesting attention to detail and a very distinct use of varying weight in the linework that sets this apart from other styles. I really do like that it has that “almost” feel to it by which I mean it’s almost familiar and yet not enough to compare to someone. The utilisation of page layouts and how the angles and perspective are seen in the panels shows off a very good eye for storytelling. Also the use of backgrounds that we see along with a cleverness in the fashion here is all just really eye-catching. There is a nice sense of creativity and imagination that we see and it’s wonderful.
Sometimes in an effort to make an impact there are some folks who will put too much into a story in the attempt at making feel so much larger than it really should be. The fact that the guys here seem to know when it’s enough is rather refreshing to see and while the universe is already on the lookout for our local weatherman the Arcadian President is have a rough of go it. This still does tie into that whole deal with what they are looking at Nathan for so it doesn’t feel like something added on but a natural extension of the story as a whole.
Creative, interesting and extremely well thought out and executed this is one of those books where it can light up the imagination and take the reader so much further into the world then whats on the page