Come join us on a journey through time and space as Rafael Albuquerque and Mike Johnson continue the mystery of “EI8HT”. Read on for our spoiler free review of “EI8HT” #2 to see why you should not be missing out on this series or its amazing artistry.
Written by Rafael Albuquerque & Mike Johnson
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
Chrononaut Joshua is stuck in the dimension known as the Meld, captured by a camp of rebels that oppose the maniacal Tyrant and his champion, the Spear. When Joshua remembers his mission, the past and the future collide to reveal the peril he must face.
Time travel is a surprisingly common story telling device used in comic books. I suppose it shouldn’t be that surprising considering, once you hit space travel and multi-dimensional jumping, time travel is a very logical conclusion. But more often than not time travel in comic books is used as a plot device on top of another narrative device. Time travel is used a means to an end, it’s not the crux of the story being told. If you look at a book like “All New X-Men”, the existence of time travel is on about the same level as guns in Die Hard. They get the job done, but they’re not the point of the story. With “EI8HT”, Rafael Albuquerque and Mike Johnson sought to change that with a time travel story that was about time travel and layered it with intricate character writing, an intriguing mystery and, above all else, astonishing artistry.
It should not only be mentioned, but championed, that in a time where colouring in comics is finally getting its due that “EI8HT” is a comic book using colour is perhaps the primary storytelling tool. Now, using colour to denote location (in this case, location in time) is not necessarily a new thing as a casual watching of The Matrix could teach you, but it’s rarely been used to this extent. Rafael Albuquerque colours his own artwork and it leads to a visual style unlike any other I’ve ever seen. With a specific colour to represent each time period – the past is green, the present is purple, the future is blue and the meld is yellow – each scene not only takes on a completely different visual feel, but allows the reader to immediately orient themselves in the time period after a jump between scenes – assuming they can remember the code and don’t have to double check every time like I did. This is the kind of detail that lets you know a lot of care and thought has been put into the fact that this is from the ground up a time travel story.
The intricacy of the colour work doesn’t end there, though, as a detail I noticed was the fact that the colours to denote when the scene is taking place are only ever used in the backgrounds. The details of each panel are coloured in a teal lighter than the blue denoting the future which not only allows them to stand out against the background colour with ease, but also gave me the cute idea that it was showing how the characters are moving into the future. Add to that the fact that the speech bubbles in the future are coloured yellow against the blue background and the only instances of red in the entire comic being the markings on a brother and sister’s faces and a blood-soaked flashback and you have a comic where colour is not only important, but essential to the story telling. A lot of other comics should look to “EI8HT” to see how to tell a story using colour.
But that colour wouldn’t be worth much if it wasn’t backing up artwork that was just as good. Thankfully, this is Rafael Albuquerque we’re talking about and he continues to deliver on that front. With colour that, despite its fanciness, can only be described as minimalist in its application, the brunt of the storytelling does end up falling back on Albuquerque’s structure in his artwork. And again, thankfully, Albuquerque pulls through on this as while his linework keeps the gritty, scratchy look that has become his signature, the storytelling on display is crisp and clear and leaves nothing misunderstood.
Continued belowWhile this issue is somewhat lacking on the action side of things as the story is still developing and mostly focused on character-based mystery and drama, an opening scene of a plane flying into a storm is illustrated beautifully and is an intense opening. One the key aspects of how enjoyable Albuquerque’s art is in “EI8HT” is in how distinct he makes each time period feel though his art as well as the colour. While we don’t see much of the present save for the inside of a plane, the intricacies of the interior and the military styling of the characters keep it distinct from the prehistoric jungle of the past and the grim, shadow-y hospital of the future. Add the Meld on top of that with it’s almost John Carter inspired desert fantasy wasteland, you have a book that continues to evolve visually from scene to scene while keep a distinct look to the art thanks to Albuquerque’s linework.
Now, don’t be fooled, this isn’t just a book riding along on artwork along – although it possibly could, the art is really good – the story is top notch too. Scripted by Mike Johnson from story co-written by Johnson and Albuquerque, this second issue is still in the early stages of the mystery being told. As such, we’re still putting the pieces together much like Joshua and are only barely glimpsing the bigger picture on display. What’s interesting here is that while Johnson continues to develop the world of the Meld through Joshua’s interactions with Nila and Hari, we get glimpses of the larger world of the Meld through Nila’s interaction with the council and little bit of backstory to her family as well as our first introduction of the Tyrant. On top of this is another story introduced following a scientist and a woman who is possibly of military background stranded in the past. While Joshua’s memory remains elusive and scientist’s goals aren’t made clear, the larger goal of the mystery remains obscured to the reader. That might be frustrating in another comic, but the rich world and characters that Albuquerque and Johnson have created as well as the amazing artistry involved means that I’m invested no matter what.
“EI8HT” is the perfect example of a story that could only be effectively told in this manner through a comic book and uses every part of the medium to its advantage in doing so. From Rafael Albuquerque’s linework to his colourwork, the storytelling on display here is simply staggering in how rich and layered it is. The use of colour to denote time and place goes hand in hand with the time travel story being told and while that may have seemed like a gimmick, it is far from it. Add to that a script by Mike Johnson that is clever, intriguing and filled with interesting characters, even if the plot is a little sparse so far, and you have simply a damn fine comic. As this series continues, I can only hope for more great things from it.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – This is a series that should be checked out, even if just for the artistry alone.
