Science, like reviews, isn’t for chick-shits.
Creative Staff:
Story: Matt Kindt
Art: Matt Kindt
Colors: Sharlene Kindt
Letters: ?
What They Say:
Under six miles of water, the pressure is rising. On her mission to rescue her brother, Mia encounters some of the ocean’s most dangerous creatures. It seems that the more clues she uncovers about her father’s murder, the more complicated the case becomes.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
From birth, Mia was raised to be a scientist. She and her brother’s entire lives were spent on research vessels and in labs, learning how to study the world in objective, controlled environments. Those observation skills will serve Mia well now, down at the bottom of the ocean, investigating her father’s death in order to determine if it was an accident, or if it was murder. Unfortunately, a malfunctioning research lab at the floor of the briny deep hardly qualifies as an objective, controlled environment, and Mia may not survive long enough to learn the truth.
Two issues ago, Mia and her brother Raj left Dept. H to repair the antenna that connects the research facility to the surface. They encountered danger and become separated. Mia makes it back to Dept. H, but Raj goes missing. Despite the odds that he is already dead, Mia mounted a rescue mission that took her down into a deep trench and eventually into an underwater cave where she encountered her brother’s echoing voice.
We learn in this issue that Raj’s voice came from a species of sea spiders with the ability to mimic sounds. Like ugly, spindly parrots, they repeat Raj’s rambling and almost poison Mia. Amazingly, Mia escapes and finds Raj—poisoned, suffering from oxygen deprivation, but very much alive. She takes him back to Dept. H and tries to get some much-needed sleep. Unfortunately, the second she nods off, she gets a message from the surface. USEAR, the company that funded Dept. H and sent Mia down to investigate, finally contacts the facility, but hidden in the transmission is a coded message for Mia telling her to abandon the place as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, an explosion in the living quarters area cuts off any possibility of escape, and now the research team must find a way to seal off the leaks and conserve their air or else they will die in thirty minutes.
The question that constantly arises in this story is “Was this an accident?” There are times when it seems like Dept. H suffers from incredibly bad luck, with incidents piling on one after the other. However, as Mia points out, “Science is all about process and proofs. You follow the steps. You control the environment. You gather facts. And you prove something….You would think with my background, I wouldn’t believe in coincidence. In fate. In destiny….And you would be right.” Mia’s evidence was destroyed along with the living quarters, and that’s one coincidence too many as far as she’s concerned. Now, more than ever, she believes that her father was murdered and that the killer is still on board Dept. H.
Dept. H is a deceptively gorgeous book. Matt Kindt’s style is rough, looking almost amateurish in some respects, but is actually quite sophisticated and nuanced. Add to the mix Sharlene Kindt’s colors, which look like she used Crayola colored pencils, and you get something that looks like a couple of highly talented high schoolers put together. But there is a beauty to the roughness, and a method to the design. The more you examine their pages the more you see the masterful use of perspective, panel placement, pacing, and atmosphere. I especially loved the flashback scene where Mia remembers the secret coded language that Alan taught her when they were dating. Sharlene Kindt floods the panels with a warm yellow, bringing to mind the sun and summer and youthful love. It contrasts wonderfully with the cold blues and blacks that dominate the scenes in the present.
The real issue I have with this comic is that the events don’t feel connected. Matt Kindt never lets Mia sit for a minute—and that’s great because it puts her into a corner and forces her to the limits of her endurance—but the incidents that keep her on the move pop up almost randomly with no real sense of narrative follow through, like a string of pearls instead of a seamless gold chain.
The comic also doesn’t provide us with any real clues as to whether or not Mia’s father was murdered. Right now the murder feels more like a device to get Mia down into Dept. H. than an integral part of the story. The plot feels very haphazard, but what saves it is the way that the Kindts capture the beauty and terror, the majesty and the darkness of life under the ocean. The real mystery lies there, and it’s beautiful and enigmatic enough to make me come back for more. Again, I just wish there were a clearer sense of cause and effect when it came to scenes.
In Summary:
While I have been enjoying Dept. H, I have to admit that I feel a bit like the odd man out here, because most of the reviews I’ve seen have been nothing but praise. I feel like I’m missing something. The art is interesting and beautiful in its own unique way, and I love the setting, but the story just hasn’t come together yet. Dr. Josh gives this a….
Grade: B-
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 24th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
