Look honey, cultists!
Creative Staff:
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Leila Leiz
Colors: Vladimir Popov
Letterer: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
As the Wilding continues to change the world, enemies close in on Olivia and Conner. Given sanctuary by believers who hang on her every word, Olivia gets a glimpse of what humanity is truly becoming. Her fans, though, might prove every bit as dangerous as the people who want her dead.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I really enjoyed the first three issues of this series, which had some gaps in release dates, but ended up missing the fourth book completely somehow. So I’m now jumping into the fifth installment of this series to see where it takes me because it has been a pretty wild ride overall and I’m definitely enjoying that aspect of things. The character work here is built nicely all while teasing more and more of what’s in the book and showing the impact on the world. As we said before, I’m very familiar with his writing style and enjoy it, but this was only my second experience with artwork from Leila Leiz and that was four years ago. I really like what they present here as we get some great character designs, a gorgeously designed cover, and just a real sense of strength and passion for the work as a whole.
With Connor and Olivia waking up in this farmhouse after the events of the tour went as badly as they did previously, they’re now in this surreal state where it’s just like classic colonial times in an idealized fantasy world. Looking out the window they just see everyone happily doing chores and, when they get closer once outside, realizing that many of them are reading her book as well. These are, as they discover, her fans who have taken the text to literal heart and are engaging in what the world will become as it’s the sign that civilization has come to its natural end. This is the new world that they see prophesied in Olivia’s book and it’s not just sending Connor into some dark places watching it but it has Olivia trying to make it clear that this wasn’t her intent.
We see just how peaceful everyone is, which seems in contradiction to the book and its effects on others, but when a cow goes wild the community basically kills it barehanded and chews off a good chunk right then and there before preparing most of it for a dinner that evening. Which they’re insistent that Olivia eat from, even though she trie to play the vegetarian amid all this unsettling material. It’s interesting to see the dialogue play out here as Olivia realizes more and more what this is here, and as she and Connor are taken to one of the darker elements of the place that fits in with any number of horror films the past few years, especially those by filmmakers not from America. It’s all fairly disturbing and leaves you wondering just how bad things have yet to go so that Connor and Olivia can escape.
In Summary:
This series continues to play well in the kind of material that it has with what’s disturbing and al and there is an appeal to it. I’ve certainly watched enough TV shows and films over the years that run in this circle and it’s interesting and engaging as we see more and more pieces come together regarding it. I definitely like seeing how unnerved Olivia is here while Connor is trying to stick to being a solid presence in her world so that she has something to lean on. It has plenty of directions that it can go and I’m really curious to see what’s next in the story.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: March 2nd, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
