A few more teases and more curiosity.
Creative Staff:
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Andrea Mutti
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
In a twisted dream world, a nameless stranger battles nightmares in his hunt for his missing son–while in the waking world, the boy’s parents find their lives falling apart under the onslaught of hopelessness and insidious cultists.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the second issue of the series, the main truth still stands for me. I’ve enjoyed a lot of Cullen Bunn’s work over the years and when I’m unsure of his works I know it’s best to give it a few issues if not the entire run just because of how it’s shaped, which I’m feeling here. I like the moments but haven’t grasped the full story yet, so it’s easy to just go with the flow. Thankfully, he’s paired up with co-creator and artist Andrea Mutti, whose work and style I adore in bringing things to life with the way he can color them and the kind of detail and overall design. That holds true here with a really great look that’s distinctive and leaves you wanting to know more of what it represents.
The “real world” storylines have some interesting moments here as we follow the old man that’s lost and unsure of everything. His subplot doesn’t give us much but we see him passed out on a bench only to have some cops come by and just verbally abuse the hell out of him with zero empathy and no amount of help at all, essentially rattling off the lines and quips of villains. We also spend a bit more time with Annette as she continues a year later to search for her son, feeling like she’s the only one that’s trying with the police having stopped and her husband apparently out of the picture at this point and no longer helping. You can draw some connections here but I’m wary of doing so without a bit more information. I do like how it covers her hopelessness and hope to see more of her figuring things out.
In the “other” world, we get our nameless man in jail being given a little food and being taken care of, unlike the Native American there named Kahnawake, who is pretty much being abused. Our nameless man is intent on finding the missing boy but Kahnawake is able to give us clues as to what’s going on as the search for the Faceless Queen goes on. The more our leading man searches and cement himself in this world, the more real it comes ad the sooner his ability to hold control over it will disappear. He’s lost a lot in making the transition to here while still knowing his intent, and Kahnawake may be in a position to help for a bit. I’m wary of drawing too much from this yet but it does clear up things a touch and seeing the two work together, and time with those that have the kids and this boy in particular, thinking that it’s time to move on is definitely interesting.
In Summary:
There’s plenty to piece together here and I’m enjoying pulling the parts and seeing how they may be connected. I’m trying to not force the pieces together at this point, however, in case there are twists yet to be discovered. I like what we’re getting with the different vantage points, different characters, and different worlds as well. Bunn’s characters come across well here and leave you wanting more of them to see what new nugget they might yet reveal. Mutti’s artwork is fantastic as always and I really like seeing the different places and costume design that we get for it. It’s moving at an intriguing pace to tease out more and more of what’s going on and the clues we get here only serve to tantalize all the more.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 28th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99