New twists enter the picture.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ryan Parrott
Art: Marco Itri
Colors: Leonardo Paciarotti
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
What They Say:
With their quest seemingly drawing to a close, Hale-19 and Amber-7T are suddenly pulled in dangerous opposite directions. One comes face to face with their past, the other with a dark potential future. Questions will be answered as we move ever closer to the truth at the heart of this sci-fi epic.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fourth installment of Volition was a fun trip but a difficult one as it went almost three months between issues. I had hoped for better going into the fifth but we basically ended up with the same thing, which for the story that Ryan Parrott has constructed doesn’t help it at all. It’s not super complicated but it’s a standalone tale and a lot of time between issues makes things easy to forget. What’s changed with this one is that Marco Itri has stepped in to take over the art duties with Leonard Paciarotti on the color design. It’s not the same as what Omar Francia did in the first three issues and it’s unfortunate because it was some high-end beautifully painted style work. But that was likely causing the significant delays and has me hopeful that we’ll see more of his work in original graphic novel form instead as that’s where it’ll shine.
This issue has Hale and Amber ending up at Jalon’s place while they try to lay low as they’re still being very much hunted. That does have them coming up with a bit of a cover story in order to not panic Jalon or get him drawn into things which is a plus. It’s nice seeing the way Amber is with him since they have a past as well as seeing how well Jalon has moved on, getting married and having a son named Oliver. But it’s all something that Amber has to put to the side in her quest to figure out what’s going on and the truth behind the rust cure that she’s been tracking. That even has her going for what looks like an obvious trap with the secret entrance below a church that they’ve mapped out and been told to go to by the mystery voice. They know it’s a trap but still have to spring it.
That it’s a dog art down there is surprising, but revealing that it’s actually working with Elizabeth and she’s telling them to stop hunting for her adds a new wrinkle. This is all confusing to be sure, partially as I’ve forgotten some story material I read back in January, but for Amber and Hale it feels like they’re being told to forget about something hugely important – even if she does say that their hunt is bringing harm to a lot of others. Of course, they’re being tracked by those we’ve seen before so the book turns to a good bit of action where Amber and Hale get split and new revelations are starting to trickle out that changes everything. It’s a solidly put together book and I like the flow of it overall as the action has a good design to it even if some of the backgrounds for it are just a lot more basic than what we’ve grown accustomed to with this series.
In Summary:
I hate to see a great artist depart a series, even if likely was for the delays between issues because it was hampering the title I’m guessing. The new team here does a solid job and they capture the general designs well, but it’s clearly not the same thing. But there’s a good story here and it’s easy to adapt over to what Itri and Paciarotti bring to the title as we continue to follow the crazy path that Hale and Amber are on. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next with it because we do get a few twists in this issue that changes our understanding of what’s going on, or at least opens us up to some different perspectives on it all.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: May 1st, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
