Adam’s problems just got weirder.
Creative Staff:
Story: Scott Kolins
Art: Scott Kolins
What They Say:
A nightmarish plague threatens Adam’s island home and everything he holds dear—including his beloved wife, his troubled son, and the animals he watches over. Lives are lost and captives are taken as an otherworldly invader penetrates Adam’s utopian environment.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Adam.3 pretty much was the kind of series where I was glad I went in not knowing anything about it or that it was even coming. It was just there, a curious little item by someone whose work I’ve been enjoying on Past Aways for the last few months. The series brought in a kind of old school science fiction concept to it with a lot of things unanswered while also showing a big picture side that could make for something really entertaining in the long run if given the chance to explore it. But it wowed and drew me in because of the cast, the quirkiness of it all and just the fun of the animals running around the island. Thankfully, the second installment takes all of that and expands it with some really intriguing depth and more uncertainty.
Where the book really caught my attention the last time around was in the character of Beo, the newly arrived teenage son of Adam’s. He’s not on great terms with his father and there was some uncomfortable material there in how he viewed Skye, Adam’s wife. That gets explained some here as it digs into Beo’s recent past as he apparently has spent his time largely in nature, and possibly the sea, with his mother that we don’t see as she’s off-panel. Beo’s living his life and growing as a warrior but she has nothing more to teach him so she’s sending him to his father – a father he didn’t even know was alive. That adds some idea to the scale of the area and the separation that exists. With some resentment towards mother for not telling him this years ago and then discovering his father with another woman who’s about to give birth would certainly explain why he’s trying to kill her. And possibly viewing that as the final training that his mother has sent him on.
While that populates the subplot for this installment, the main one focuses on something crashing into the world from space and causing a lot of problems on the island. Adam’s doing his best to help the animals and ease the panic but the massive fire has him working hard to try and take it out. But that becomes complicated when what seems like a physical energy being of black matter attempts to take Adam out. Kolins brings us a really well choreographed series of action moments with this as the two struggle that’s combined with Adam trying to end the fire with a device he has. Bringing that together with scenes of Beo being drawn into something dark and ominous and potential problems with Skye and her unborn children at the same time just ramps up the intensity. But Kolins smartly gives Adam a strong sequence here that shows him as leader, guider and an important part of the life cycle that exists here while also extending his backstory in small ways.
In Summary:
Adam.3 has a strong second installment that builds upon what we’ve gotten so far and manages to make it even more engaging and intriguing. This is the kind of book that I wish was hitting weekly in digital form because there’s so much that I want to know and see explored that waiting a month for a new installment makes me get anxious. Scott Kolins isn’t giving us all the answers here and I suspect a lot won’t be forthcoming in the series. But I do expect we’ll get a solid story with some really good concepts introduced that could take it further if there’s enough of an audience. There’s a certain kind of pacing and progress made here where it we’re certainly not on the same page as the writer but that we’re given so many clues and teases that it carries us along. I’m thoroughly hooked on this book with what it’s presenting across the board that I hope there’s some good payoff for it. But even if not it’s one that I’m already knowing that the journey is more than enough of the reward.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 2nd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
Excellent review. I agree with just about everything you said.