Wherein we want to hurt Quon even more than we already did.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Dustin Nguyen
Letterer: Steve Wands
What They Say:
“SINGULARITIES” continues as the mysteries of Telsa’s past are finally revealed. They may threaten not only Telsa, but the universe itself!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Descender’s path has been one that has taken us on some side stories that help to enhance the whole work and that has worked out very well over the course of its run. Spending as much time as we did with TIM-22’s past the last issue brought to light a lot of how society coped and changed after the event that altered everything and it was also interesting to see some of those that simply didn’t connect with robots even before it. TIM-22 certainly came across in a pretty intense way, something that you kind of figured that was there, but Lemire and Nguyen delivered on it so perfectly that it was delicious to watch it unfold and understand why he’s operating as he does. You may not agree with it but you can empathize with how TIM-22 reached this point and is engaging TIM-21 as he is.
This installment is another character study that digs into the connected past of Telsa, who I continue to mis-spell as Tesla. Telsa’s been a very fun character to watch throughout this book since her introduction as she’s been doing all the right things in trying to complete the mission while dealing with all the weirdness that shows up – and some of the surprising characters that have entered or returned to her life. Here, we get to go back ten years ago to when the event happened and see how she was a strong personality as a young woman already, something that became even more intense after being inches away from her mother as she got killed in the event by the machines. It made her want to do better by others and protect the UGC in general, though she had to struggle with her father and his desire to keep her safe and out of the academy. A familiar enough story but one that works well as we see her forging her own path outside of his control.
Lemire and Nguyen take us through the ten year period rather well as we see her growing up and taking more control of her life. When she leaves home and gains a new identity, that takes her into some interesting areas and even Blugger Vance ever so briefly, something that delights. But at the core of all of this we see what an absolute loner she is as academy training is difficult and she seemingly has no friends. Even her usual bodyguard of Tullis doesn’t seem like an almost-friend, though he works with her prior to her leaving because he understands what’s driving her. The father/daughter dynamic is well played throughout much of this and while it does keep things a little superficial simply because of how much it’s trying to do in a short period of time, what we do get between the two clicks well and explores why they’re still so adversarial after all these years.
When we catch up to the present, well, we’re right back in the middle of a bad place as she and Quon are about to be killed since they’re not useful anymore. Telsa doesn’t exactly get a chance to try and come up with some sort of plan with how fast things move, but it goes in a seemingly worse direction in its own way as Quon starts talking. He’s been a mess for a while now and it seems like every time he talks at this point he’s revealing new things that he was either obscure about or outright lied about, sometimes by omission. That there are more pieces of the puzzle from the past with the event and the origins of the robots still at play is exciting as it could mean some new answers and a whole lot of new questions, but just watching how scummy Quon comes across is definitely fun. You can feel every bit of fury coming from Telsa as she decks him and goes after him, leaving you almost hopeful that she won’t be stopped.
In Summary:
Descender answers a lot of background questions about Telsa and her situation that have been touched upon or given a nod to previously. It’s a solid look at the character and serves as her origin story for the most part and while that might feel forced in some books it’s definitely welcome here. The cast expansion has hit throughout the run with a look at the key players and Telsa’s been one I wanted a lot more time with, particularly as I love her design and detail with the coloring, so getting a lot more of that from Nguyen is like win/win for me. A very solid issue that takes us to some new places at the end and has the potential for a really neat reconnect with other characters as the story progresses.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 13th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
