Creative Staff:
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
What They Say:
When the only means of escape is to delve into a world of chaos and monsters . . . you just might lose your mind.
The Review: (please note that content portions of review may contain spoilers)
Things get bad right from the start as Declan’s attempt to show Reece his world has backfired tremendously. As he is out on the streets of Boston he is discovered by his old enemy Nimble Jack who has been feeding on the sick he has come across and now he has found a major delight as he has long been waiting for Declan to wake up so he can feed off him as well. Declan’s life isn’t any easier though as the trip to the other world of madness has almost overwhelmed Reece and this encounter with Jack and the bizarre things he can do is threatening to overwhelm her mind completely.
Seeing this Declan begins to panic for the first time as he never imagined that a supposedly “not crazy” person could in any way be threatened by Jack and now he is discovering just exactly how wrong he was as Reece’s ability to cope with what is being shown to her is at its breaking point and it looks like Jack might be able to use that state for his own purpose. In a mad rush Declan drags Reece back to the other world and tries to flee by accelerating the madness of some of the residents there, but will this attempt to camouflage himself work or is he simply making things worse by driving Reece further out of sanity while also making new enemies along the way of those he is using while also driving his own body dangerously colder as he uses his powers?
With some of the back story having been explained in the previous issue it is time to up the ante and the writer does so with a remarkable prowess as he builds off the incredible scenarios and landscapes he has shown and now introduces Declan having run into a most powerful predator who has been waiting for him for decades and now sees that his long wait will finally payoff. And if that weren’t enough Declan is also having to deal with the fact that Reece never asked to see the world through his eyes and watching her struggle with making sense of it all is taking a toll on him as the guilt he feels is creating an additional pressure on his psych which causes him to some decidedly un-heroic actions and shows off his faults and humanity in a way he wasn’t able to before when he was seemingly playing the incredibly wise and collected tour guide for Reece.
It is here when his seeming mastery of events fails due to his hubris that Declan finally seems at his most human as he goes from presenting himself as this incredibly in control being to a (psychologically anyway) normal human who is trying desperately to keep one step ahead of events and barely managing to do so at great cost as every action he takes seems to be making matters worse and he gets more and more desperate to try to fix things which isn’t working at all. This complete miscalculation sets Declan apart from what most writers establish with characters of his type as they tend to be able to back up some of their seeming self assuredness and yet in this case it looks like that emotion may backfire horribly as he never imagined just how wrong things could go and how unprepared he was for that when it happened. Fans of the previous two comics may find that they have discovered that the series just keeps getting better for them and those have been a bit cooler to the events may find a chance to come over to the character but those who are majorly put off by some of the series mechanisms will likely find this issue reinforces their dislike as well. Still the overall effort here is certainly notable and there are some fantastic images and ideas present even if some of the structure may grate on some people.
In Summary:
Declan’s moment in the sun is spoiled as he has managed to attract Nimble Jack to him- and if that weren’t bad enough his self assuredness has left Reece in a perilous mental state that threatens to overtake her. With events spiraling the readers will see just how a desperate man can engage in the kinds of actions that change him from a seeming hero to a seemingly much more normal and relatable figure who panics just like normal men and who makes some incredibly bad decisions at that time while also retaining the humanity to feel guilty for his actions that he takes in haste. With this new twist Colder takes a bold step to take its powered lead who can see a complete other world and effect it and yet makes him as flawed as the person standing next to them in any line and this is something that not every other writers can say they have done with their creations.
Grade: B
