For an independently produced comic, this series spends the money on its quality. From the graphics on the cover to the interior art, it’s a tight package with a great presentation. This issue is good. There are some hiccups, but overall it was a solid continuation of the ground work from the first two issues. As Mosel and Riley are heading to school, two of their friends are trapped in their burning car. An event that we saw put in motion in the last issue as an attempt to pull something deeper from inside of Mosel. Mosel attempts to free them, but ends up ripping off a side of the car and nothing more. Riley on the other hand jumps on top of the roof and clubs the windshield in with a tire iron. This woman is tough.
On another segment of the story we meet two characters that roles are really never revealed. Their conversations are vague and unlike the rest of our characters there weren’t any reminders as to what their relationship was to the plot. There’s one scene at the end for the woman we meet, but that’s about it. Even then it doesn’t tie into anything else she does in the issue. This was a big hiccup for me. I know that a lot of times stories are written for the trade and so a recap of events is excluded, but their roles were so brief in the last issue that they seemed out-of-place and rather confusing.
From there the story heads back to Riley and Mosel who are camping out in the woods for the night. Our two alien brothers have found them and are continuing their conversation about the world and species in general, but with a focus on Mosel… and the child he doesn’t know about.
There are great parts of the story. The narration is solid throughout and the disconnected style works perfectly for it. When Mosel is trying to save his friends the narration is all about Riley and her nature. It’s has nothing to do with the visuals, but in a way builds her personality while demonstrating another aspect of her personality giving the reader a complete picture of her. The dialogue for the most part is very strong with the exception of the two characters I mentioned before. Riley and Mosel’s relationship is still interesting, but their fighting is wearing thin on me. They both feel as if they can only love each other and have no other options. It’s a very high school fatalist way of looking at the world, but I think that due to Mosel’s genetic make-up there might be something to it. I just want the story to address it out loud sooner rather than later.
The art continues to be gorgeous. Everything is extremely photorealistic and that fact strengthens the story. It’s like reading a movie that’s been captured frame by frame and printed on a page. Artist Jason Badower does a fantastic job with the different settings and making the world feel real and alive. Badower spares nothing on the details; from trees in a background to the dashboard of a car, everything is given the same amount of attention and detail making it gorgeous to look at.
I’m enjoying this story. I really want to see where it’s going and hope that it’s not dragged out. Considering where it started to where it is now, I’m not exactly sure when the two timelines will meet up, but I’m looking forward to it. The ensembles of characters are interesting and I can’t wait to see when they’ll all be more active with each other. If you dig science fiction and mystery then you really can’t go wrong with this series so check it out.
Score: 3/5
Writer/Creator: J.R. Rothenberg Artist/Letterer: Jason Badower Colorist: Annette Kwok Publisher: Ipso Facto Comics Price: $1.99 Digitally Website