Review: Clone #8

Review By: Sergio Porras Good news everyone, Luke isn't dead! Guess I should have said spoiler alert but in all fairness you learn this on the first page and how often is the main character killed off in the first ten issues? Clone #8 was by far the most bizarre issue which isn't a bad thing but you must keep in mind that it’s not necessarily anything like the other issues in the series. This issue brings us into Native American healing, a cheating whore of a wife, and another new and deadly clone!

Luke's assinik disorder has come back after years of remission and the only place that his father can go to save his son is to see his ex-wife, Luke's mother, who now lives on an Indian reservation as part of a tribe. No wonder the marriage didn't work out, Science vs. a holistic approach, which could have had “crazy sit-com” written all over it. Luke's mother is able to help him but while Luke is receiving treatment he starts to have flashbacks to the night that Amelia told him that she was pregnant. Luke wakes up and is ready to jump back into saving his wife and baby.

clone08_coverAmelia is having problems of her own. A new guard has been assigned to her and he's a real creep. He watches her shower and dress for the day and although the words are never said he pretty much tells her that he's going to rape her and there’s not a single thing that she can do about it. Before the new guard can get his paws all over Amelia the tattooed clone of Luke steps in and opens up a big can of whoop-ass. After he is done saving her Amelia repays him with a kiss. Now this is where you're not sure if she's starting to develop some sort of Stockholm Syndrome or she's doing anything she can to survive. Before the issue is up the beta clone is al put back but Davis introduces a new secret weapon of a clone and I don't think that anyone would have expected to look the way it does.

The art was a solid as always and there isn't anything too special to report in that department. I haven’t gone back and checked to see if Ryp has done this in previous issues but I noticed that when there is an intense fight sequence, Ryp takes away any scenery from a background and adds just a plain sunburst style background which makes the interaction between characters really pop. Just one more thing to show how creative his style can be.

In the end I was a little upset that there wasn't a whole lot that happened in this issue and you're left with more questions than answers but I'm starting to pick up on the pattern that the story is developed. Issue did a good job of not moving too far in the story, which usually frustrates me because I can tend to be a little impatient, but leaves enough room for expansion in the current story arc so I'm looking forward to issue #9.

Score: 4/5

Writers:  David Schulner, Aaron Ginsburg, Wade McIntyre

Artist: Juan Jose Ryp

Publisher: Image Comics and Skybound

Price: $2.99

Release Date: 06/26/13