Something about this series keeps me holding back from loving it. I like it, but I think the whole series could pick up on the story line. We meet one character and then jump to someone else. Jake is the only consistent character. I don’t want to dwell but, first Mason, no mention of him, then Jessica, and now I don’t want to get too attached to anyone. I mean it makes sense in the series that we would only get overviews of who Jake meets, but I still think the story of each character could continue or end somehow. Alright let’s move on. Now this issue was better than last month’s. Jake leaves Hopetown, and really no one seems to care. We do learn some stuff about Hopetown and how to get in. I could be wrong, but there is mention of drug addicts getting kicked out of Hopetown. So I am thinking that your death has to be honorable or more like anything but dishonorable. This makes it more interesting, and now I am intrigued by this proposition. For instance, who decides what a dishonorable death is? This story has some potential. So right away the plot is picking up some momentum.

Freedom Town is basically a shit show. These are the people who decided to party after death. The whole joint is a giant strip club. It looks like a farmer’s market where the fruit isn’t exactly fresh. Jake gets confronted by the introduction of our new character, Jericho. Unlike our other peps, I do think this guy will stay for a little while. I am assuming this dude runs Freedom Town. For the lack of authority this town claims to hold no one gets past Jericho. Jake is a smart guy, but he doesn’t think that Jericho confronting him is anything to be concerned about. Again, a character flaw. The comic makes Jake out to the tough dude who picks up on the little things. Anyone can see Jericho wants something from him. These are the things that make Gateway a difficult comic to fully grasp.

I am curious to see Jericho’s role in Freedom Town. I mean what would motivate him to run a town of low riders? He tells Jake that his goal is to kill the Dark Souls. These are our vampire-like creatures from last issue. They seem to kill off the low riders, which makes me actually like the Dark Soul characters the most right now.

Gateway is just getting off to a rough start. Clearly, I sort of feel bad for all the missteps in the plot. I would love some fillers within it. Like what is going on in Hopetown? Maybe we could follow Jessica around too. Also, we could follow Mason and see what the deal is with his plans. It would be nice to intertwine these characters that we get to know. And even if we keep up with Freedom Town, then what was the point to get introduced to the Hopetown? It all just doesn’t make sense. I can’t give up on the series quite yet. I will give it some time to get its shit together but after about issue five, I may have to give Gateway a rest.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Joe Halpin Sr. Artist: Juanfrancisco Moyano Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 3/5/14