This week, I take in three of the most interesting psychological thriller / tenuously related by themes of the brain, and the fucking therewith and bending thereof. Hold on to your heads...
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WHISPERS is the debut solo comic book by Joshua Luna, who is one half of the Luna Brothers, responsible for hit comics GIRLS (which I took a look at earlier in the year) and THE SWORD (which I've not read but have been told great things about). A limited series of 6, three issues have been published to date. The book has a lot in common with its predecessor (Girls) in that the protagonist at least begins as quite a dislikeable character. Sam is an obsessive compulsive twentysomething (although this is just the tip of the iceberg in the myriad of social soap operas he and Luna's other characters inhabit). One night he discovers he has the ability of astral projection - cue some forays into high concept eavesdropping and floating out of body weirdness - but this ability soon shows itself to be much more, with Sam realising he is able to bend people to his will. As he struggles with learning the limits of his new gift, he begins to realise he may share this astral plane with a creature that may not be entirely friendly... The art is as engaging and clear as in Girls and the atmosphere genuinemly creepy. Worth picking up issues 1-3 as I don't believe they sold out...
MIND THE GAP is a new ongoing, again from Image, written by Jim McCann and pencilled by Rodin Esquejo (whose art you may recognise from his excellent Morning Glories covers). Its first double-sized issue debuted in May and sold out instantly. I'll start by saying that the plot is uber-dense. You have to decide, perhaps even more so than in Esquejo's other title, if you're going to be in for the long haul or not. The mystery begins in issue 1 as our protagonist Ellie is attacked on a subway platform and left for dead. Across its ambitious 48 pages, we are introduced to her family and friends as we learn of the circumstances of the accident...although we don't really learn much, as McCann is clearly a master of red herrings and subtle clues, which no doubt will not be resolved until much, much later. And so, poor Ellie is in a coma, watching her tragedy unfold from - you guessed it - some sort of astral plane, where she's essentially got to solve her own attempted murder in her own unconscious mind. I have to confess, I wasn't absorbed enough by the mystery to delve further into it. No doubt it will be intricate and well plotted, and rewarding to those who stick with it... but right now I'm going to leave Ellie to work it out on her own.
MIND MGMT, however, has me hooked. Its first issue, from Dark Horse Originals and published last month, is probably in my top 5 of the year. Simply put, it's got an arresting premise combined with an arresting visual style; combined this creates the kind of absorbing comic book you just don't see every week. Right down to the choice of paper, the subtle snippets of non-information that pepper the edges of the page, and the haunting painted art, this is fucking classy stuff. The opening issue knows that it owes a lot to 'event' TV series such as Lost, even down to the 'big happening' occurring on a plane, even numbering the flight 815 in a not-so-subtle reference. The 'big happening' in question is that everyone on flight 815 gets spontaneous amnesia at the same time, which may not sound that massive, but the way Kindt plays it out is masterful. Some time after the flight, we meet Meru, a journalist desperate to solve the mystery of what happened on the flight. Cue much jetsetting, espionage, chasing and MYSTERY of the highest order! Only two issues in, but this really is one to put on the pull list.
Next week: What have the G1-continuity Transformers been up to for the last 21 years?
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