A dazzling delight that tickles the right kind of nostalgia.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ted Anderson
Art: Jen Hickman
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
What They Say:
Everyone knows that the two greatest thieves in the city are the Moth and the Whisper. Very few know that the Moth and the Whisper disappeared six months ago. And what nobody knows is that the new Moth and Whisper are actually one person pretending to be both of them. One supremely skilled but uncertain young genderfluid thief: Niki, the child of the Moth and the Whisper.
Niki has been trained by their parents in the arts of stealth and infiltration, but they’re still just a teenager, and now they’re alone, searching for their parents in a hostile cyberpunk dystopia. Corporations run the streets while crime lords like Ambrose Wolfe run the alleys—identity is a commodity and privacy is impossible. The truth about Niki’s parents and their disappearance is out there, but can Niki survive long enough to find it?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The uncertainty of a first issue is something that can be very thrilling if the book is done right. With my goal of trying just about every AfterShock series as they come out continuing on, Moth and Whisper looked stylish from the cover but seriously delivered when it came to what’s inside with creators I haven’t been exposed to before. Ted Anderson crafts a simple and familiar story here but the way it unfolds and reveals itself is spot on engaging, setting the stage for what’s to come but giving us more than enough character material, action, and the trimmings to make it feel lived in. But it’s Jen Hickman who elevates it to something special here with great layouts but some creative and really fantastically engaging design work when it comes to the characters. I was hooked from the first page and she only made it more so. So much of this book reminds me of Wagner and Mireault’s work on their segment together on the Grendel series years ago and that has me even more excited about what could come next.
Taking place in a near future where things are more advanced, the focus is on crime within a particular city and some of those that worked that world. Known as Moth and Whisper, the two are highly skilled players in the game where Moth used a range of disguises in order to perform jobs for various crime bosses, cops, and others while Whisper essentially did the same, but through a use of stealth that was unparalleled. The book showcases a lot of this from the past in great style and color design to really make it stand out all while keeping us from seeing who they are and in a lot of cases the disguise side until later. It’s almost a montage piece but it flows really well and draws you into their story as you see how they were rivals at times, partners at others, and more complicated elsewhere. So when we discover that they’ve been missing for six months and are only now getting back into the game, the real story starts.
It’s here that it becomes really interesting as we learn how they’ve truly gone missing and that the reality is that they were a couple that had navigated this city to play all the sides against each other to create chaos to make their money. It’s a brilliant little bit that you can imagine would be a high and thrill to be sure. But with them missing, their teenage son ends up having the truth revealed to him (intentionally) and he’s been set to hide until they come back. Of course, it’s been long enough now that he’s no longer in hiding but rather using the costumes and gear that his parents left behind, which includes an AI of sorts named Weaver that helps a whole lot, in order to find out who it was that likely did his parents in and deal with them – and maybe even find his parents. Niki’s not hugely detailed here in terms of past but the initial layout for the character is solid as we see him struggling with being both Moth and Whisper while also having to deal with the loss of his parents and the unknown of what’s happened to them.
In Summary:
Sometimes you come away from a first issue and just go wow. Moth and Whisper was one of those books for me that just made my day when I read it and left me excited for what’s to come, but also to begin researching the team behind it a bit more and find out what else I’ve missed by them in their respective careers. The story is straightforward and accessible but it’s wonderfully stylish and engaging with lots of potential to run with. It’s one of the best things I’ve read in a while for a first issue and I can’t wait to get my hands on more and to see what the run will be like as a whole.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: September 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
