The Redemption of Slim?!
Creative Staff:
Story: Max Bemis
Art: Eryk Donovan
Colors: Cris Peter
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Turns out, when you blow up the universe, God gets pissed at you. At least, He’s pretty friggin mad at Bill. Facing the consequences of his altercation with Moore, Bill must now relive the worst day of his life throughout all of time and space with Slim as his divinely-appointed chaperone. But that’s nothing compared to the shocker he’s going to find on the last page. And THAT’S nothing compared to the revelation that Slim might actually have…*gasp*…feelings?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first volume of Heavy draws to a close with this issue and sets the stage for the second, which is going to be even crazier by all appearances. Max Bemis has been all over the map in a good way with this series so far, taking it from what I thought it was going to be (which I was excited about) to what it ended up being, which is a surprise from issue to issue and keeps me delighted. Eryk Donovan has been able to go nuts in some really creative ways along the way here in bringing the story to life and I love his take on the characters and settings as they have a really great design and look to them.
With the way things played out, we get an installment here where basically we have Slim and Bill trying to get things worked out so they can move forward again. So much has gone down in this series so far that it’s just nuts across the board. But the most surprising thing is that if you do believe Slim here, he really has come to love Bill in his own way. There’s a natural level of distrust going on when it comes to Slim since his introduction and I’m totally on board with that. But as events unfold here and we see just how much he seemingly does for him, and highlighting the choices that he’s helping Bill go through while navigating dealing with God, well, it’s very well done and he makes me believe.
God himself is presented well and I like the back and forth we get between him and Bill, especially on the nature of the universe and all of that. God, as presented, is comical enough, though not a presentation we haven’t seen before, and it’s fun to see the way the three engage with each other as Bill is being set up to go through the process of repeating a portion of his life that’s terrible. And one that has a whole host of possibilities should he change it, most of them pretty dark looking. The moment that leads to his death and time in purgatory is something that’s definitely a rough moment, but seeing through Slim that there’s no good outcome to be had for it no matter the choices made even if he survived or didn’t go that route is pretty rough. Of course, every choice has consequences and a whole new one comes from this that’s just going to screw him over more once again.
In Summary:
Heavy has been a very fun series that has left me guessing what’s going to happen issue to issue in a good way. It’s a surprisingly unpredictable book and that’s really welcome when you consume as much media as I do. I had hoped for something like that since Max Bemis surprised the hell out of me with his Centipede series a few years ago in making that work. Eryk Donovan delivers a great-looking work through and through and some of the situations here definitely are top-notch thanks to his approach and style, especially with the layouts. With Cris Peter enhancing it with some great colo design, this team has put together one of the more surprising and enjoyable series of the past year.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Vault Comics | Amazon
Release Date: February 10th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
