Whispering Sands is a one-shot issue with just two stories. They’re standalone stories, but both share a theme of supernatural elements of sorts that tie into the real world. The first story is about a father and son that are out fishing when suddenly they find the water gone and the boat sitting on the bottom of the ocean. Not realizing what this means the father gets out of the boat and discovers a bunch of dead people lying on the ocean floor. They begin talking to him and one of them grabs him and gives him some ominous advice about his son. Then it hits him… tsunami. Suddenly, father and son are fighting for their life and the events the dead told him are coming true.

There’s obviously a couple of twists to this tale. It’s actually a wonderful short story and I won’t spoil the twists. I will say the art was okay at best. The character’s designs weren’t bad, but the faces all kind of look the same. A few of the faces were posed strangely making them stand out for the wrong reason. They also lack a lot of emotion until near the end of the story.

The second story seemingly takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. A husband and wife come across a community and become a part of their society until one of the men sexually harasses her and they decide to leave. But of course they’re not allowed to. There’s a few more twists that I won’t spoil, but this story has many layers that you won’t see coming.

The art looks different for this story. Sadly, it’s not much better. The coloring is slightly better and the overall style is better, but it’s not much better. Even stranger, they’re by the same artists, but they don’t quite resemble each other. I honestly thought they were by two different artists with similar styles. The artist is clearly still growing and developing their style. It just not very good at the moment, but it does a competent job of conveying both stories.

Overall it’s an enjoyable one-shot. There’s not much value in re-reading it since the twists of the story are the interesting part, but if you want to check out two tales that have a supernatural element and try for some shock twists then check out Whispering Sands.

Score: 3/5

Whispering Sands Writer: Chris Sides Artist: Freja Steele Publisher: Redshift Press Price: £4.00 (Print); $0.99 (Digital) Format: One-Shot; Print/Digital Website