By Justin McCarty

Isolation is Cog Life Comic’s first full-length comic, launching at this years Thought Bubble Sequential Arts Festival. It has three short, somewhat experimental, stories centering around the theme of isolation. Cog Life launched last year according to their website, and their mission seems to be to break the comics mold. 

Isolation’s three stories a quite different from one another. The first, Man of Mystery, is a mostly silent story that can be a bit hard to follow but is still a fun exploration of the medium. Deliveries, my personal favorite, has a sad twist ending that hammers home the theme. Lastly Abominable is a humorous story about some mountain climbers that just can’t get it together. While the stories have a somewhat amateur feel to them, they are well told with a lot of skill coming through the sometimes rough layouts and rendering.

Tone and mood come through the best on the first story. Stark black, white images heighten the drama. This story affects the reader the most with its visuals. Unfortunately, the experimental nature of the book made the narrative hard to find. The second story has the best rendering to story match up. It also had the most depth. It tells the story of a lonely older person ordering products online just for the human contact from the delivery person. I know people like this. A relatable story. There are layers in this story that comes through in just a few pages. The last story is pretty funny even if it doesn’t stay as close to the theme of isolation as the other two.

I always love discovering new indie titles and publishers. Their packaging isn’t perfect, and the stories are a little rough around the edges, but Cog Life will be a publisher to keep your eye on if you’re a fan of indie titles. Isolation debuted at Thought Bubble and is on sale now.

Score: 4/5

Isolation
Cog Life Comics