The weird gets weirder.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ben Fisher
Art: Adam Markiewicz
Colors: Adam Guzowski
Letterer: Adam Markiewicz
What They Say:
Maria and Paul – with new friends – have traced the origins of the Divide to a lake in rural Oregon. But not everyone in the region is eager to have its secrets revealed.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The path of the Great Divide series is one that is seemingly random at times but it fits well for this particular world where things have gone pretty south and everyone reacts in some really damning ways. The book has a lot of interesting ideas to work with in how humanity would handle it and the kinds of breakdowns that different people would go through. It’s not focusing heavily on that but the introductions to different lifestyles we get is fun and interesting, especially some of the creepier ones simply because it does go different. Fisher’s got plenty of places that they can go with this, though it’s working a particular story for this series that has me hopeful it’ll end in a way where we can get more as he and Markiewicz have delivered well.
Events in this installment feel a bit all over the map in a way as it’s moving everything forward to varying degrees. Maria’s time with Sebastian is illuminating in that we get a look at her past when she proposed to her girlfriend just everything went south and ended up gaining her as a rider. We’ve seen little into Maria’s head and Sebastian seems to be one that draws out people in bad ways. Those who can handle riders are definitely rare and that says a lot about Maria but also gives us some insights into Sebastian, before his escape, with how his schizophrenia may have been something that has given him an edge in managing the voices. It’s certainly different than how everyone else has been coping with it since most tend to just kill themselves not long afterward from being unable to handle it.
Their trip as a group to the “Bermuda Triangle” takes an interesting turn along the way, providing for a stop for repairs for the RV where we see a marketplace that has the additional attraction of animal companionship – something that Paul struggles with a bit when he sees the flock of domesticated sheep. It’s something that goes back to the beginning of the series in how people would be dealing with it and one that makes its own naturally twisted sense. This in turn gets them back on their journey and our first taste of what this “safe zone” area is like is pretty Stepford Wives kind of chilling in its own way. Fisher doesn’t give us any answers here, just more questions and uncertainty, and it definitely has you wanting to know more since there are only two more installments left. The series packs a lot into each issue so I’m confident of a decent ending while still hoping for a relaunched ongoing with more room to grow and expand with.
In Summary:
Great Divide digs into Maria more than anything else here as she interacts with Sebastian and that helps to bring her to life more. Not that the lives people lead before the event really matter anymore, something that can be hard to grapple with sometimes. We get three locales dealt with here and events are moving along, though I could see more time spent at this market trying to figure out how things operate there and the strangeness of it all. The ending piece definitely leaves you wanting more answers and to see the fallout from it but it really felt like each of the three pieces to this book could have been their own issues with more exposition and smoother pacing to draw us into this world more, which is my only really frustration with the book at this point.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 28th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
