A daring depression of happiness.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ryan K. Lindsay
Art: Owen Gieni
What They Say:
The battle surrounding our hero reaches fever pitch, just as his depression reaches a new low. Now, desperate and lost, he is finally prepared to meet his end—but doing so could have disastrous unintended consequences for the ancient and mysterious Evorah species.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With quite the gap between issues for Negative Space, I’ll admit I was wary of getting back into it after a nearly four month break. Some books really demand to be read all at once while others can handle the monthly schedule and make plenty of sense. But when you have that much time between it, even with a fantastic work it can be hard to just drop back into it. Thankfully, once you get into the first page or two of Negative Space all of what came before comes rushing back and it’s surprisingly easy to get into. Particularly helpful is that for the most part it really does just revolve around two characters at this point.
Guy and Beta’s attempts to set off the bomb to stop everything is definitely moving right along and seeing how the two interact continues to be a treat. Guy’s sense of self has been a part of it from the start, made more whole the last time around, and the way he copes with situations feels pretty darn appropriate considering the way life has treated him. Beta gets it, as much as he can, and he’s using Guy for his own purposes that also serve the larger purpose of not using humanity as they were. So it’s really engaging to see how the two of them proceed to get to setting up and setting off the bomb and what has to be dealt with the. The “new” creature that even Beta is unaware of is definitely striking and the flow of events there with how Guy gets sucked into it and ends up accepting it is pretty spot on.
This sequence alone is worth the price of admission just for Gieni’s artwork, but it also causes things to shift for Guy as he begins to think more about his father and discovers a happiness in a way that he hadn’t quite thought of before. When we do get the flashback montage piece later on with the nod of what he had to do for his father, it’s all very powerful stuff and reflects the way that he’s viewing his life, the goal that he can accomplish now, and just how critical it is. The flashback aspect is really nicely done with its design and detail, the layout in general across the two-page spread, but the sequence earlier with the teeth heavy creature is what really won me over with this issue from Gieni. As much as I like the story I find myself just wanting to pore over his artwork across far larger forms to really soak up the details and colors.
In Summary:
With a likely twist or two to come in the conclusion, there’s plenty of places it can all go and I’ll be very pleased even if it’s predictable. Negative Space is certainly a weird book, as they’re billing it, and it reminds me of some the really creative material that cropped up in the 80’s black and white glut with some great gems in the mix. Gieni and Lindsay are crafting an intriguing tale that plays to its own tune and you can sync up with it wonderfully if you look at it just right. There’s a superficial level you can enjoy and there’s the side where you can sit down for hours and just talk concepts with people, explore the artwork, and the combination as meaning. That’s the sign of a fantastic work and that’s what this is.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 27th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
