Well, I was going to wait until tomorrow to write this review up-but who am I kidding?  This is one of my absolute favorite series (not to mention one that I love talking about since it’s criminally underrated, at least in my eyes).  The wait for this book has been killing me since there was no issue in December due to the release of the trade.  But luckily, this issue proved to be the perfect start to the second story arc. At the end of last issue, we saw some strangers approach Safe Haven, but we had no idea who they were or their intentions.  This issue not only provides the backstory on that, but brilliantly does it through the point of view of these strangers from two weeks ago up to the present confrontation with Lucas.

First, we’re introduced to Cliff, a solar panel salesman.  He’s on the phone with a survivalist (you can probably see where this is going), and has just made a sale.  He calls up his friend Nathan and goes to the middle-man for the panels, Brent.  There’s a bit of a problem however.  Brent already sold the panels that Cliff thought he sold to the now unknown survivalist.  Brent sold them because the buyers had offered more than another potential buyer was willing to pay.  Cliff matches what the other clients were paying, and now has to deliver these panels.  Cliff and Nathan figure if they can cut out the middle man by delivering the panels themselves, they can each make a few hundred bucks.  This sounds good to Cliff because he has two young kids and could use the money.

They know a guy named Travis who works at a glass company and are able to convince him to let them use one of his trucks in exchange for a girls’ phone number.  Cliff, Nathan, and Travis are now faced with the task of driving eight hours in a snow storm to deliver these panels to… well you probably guessed where they were delivering these to.

I don’t want to give any more of the story away, but man this issue was great.  I really loved the fact that we got a glimpse into other people’s lives outside of Safe Haven.  The fact that Cliff has a normal family and is just a regular guy trying to make ends meet makes the folks at Safe Haven seem really crazy.  The weather seems pretty terrible with the snowstorm and all, but everything in Cliff, Nathan, and Travis’ lives seemed to be a-ok.

I loved the art as usual (I mean just look at that cover!), and the coloring is incredible as well.  I can’t say what parts I enjoyed the most art-wise because that would give a ton away.  I can say I love how the characters express emotion throughout these books thanks to the art.  At this point I’ve become so engrossed in the series that I can see a blank panel with just Lucas’s expression and almost come up with my own dialogue for what he’s thinking.  By being able to get inside these characters’ heads helps to relate to them or in Lucas’s case at least try to understand what’s going on inside his head.  I come back month after month to this great creative team and have yet to be let down.  This is easily my favorite issue of the series next to the first one, and I can’t wait for the next installment.

Score: 5/5

Writer: Ed Brisson Artist: Johnnie Christmas Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 1/8/14