At the end of your tether 02 (featured image) Reviews 

“At the End of Your Tether” #2

By | July 26th, 2019
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“At the End of Your Tether” #2 doesn’t necessarily answer most the questions posed in the debut issue, but that’s what makes it work. The real story exists at the margins and in the gaps between multiple realities laden with intriguing possibilities and the longing for what might have been. (Warning: may contain minor spoilers.)

Cover by Deena So'Oteh

Written by Adam Smith
Illustrated by V.V. Glass
Colored by Hilary Jenkins
Lettered by Jim Campbell

Determined to find Arlo, Ludo takes things into his own hands and starts to look outside of the base, only to discover her trail picks up in the most unexpected of places. The further Ludo gets into his investigation, the more he questions how well everyone on base, in town, and even he himself really knew her.

“At the End of Your Tether” #1 began with a slow, contemplative, almost lyrical voiceover full of sadness, longing and possibility. Interestingly, even after the second issue, it’s not entirely clear how the universe in which the story takes place actually functions, but there’s a definite sense of alternate timelines and forks in the road – paths and events that exist in one world, but not others. The wistful sense of melancholy that permeates much of the writing stems from knowing it doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, there’s a world where it’s not like this at all.

After the intentionally vague but compelling opening scene that artfully set the tone for the series, most of the rest of the debut issue centered on Ludo and his girlfriend Arlo, two army brats emotionally exhausted from constantly having to move from base to base and make all new friends. We watched them find each other, fall in love, and inevitably drift apart after Arlo moved away. In the cliffhanger we learned – on the cusp of their first reunion in years – that Arlo has disappeared without a trace, despite the fact that Ludo just spoke to her on the phone the night before, an apprent impossibility.

“At the End of Your Tether” #2, in contrast to the first issue, begins with an upbeat flashback. We see Ludo and Arlo in simpler, happier times – their budding romance in full swing. From there, the story transitions to a pretty straightforward procedural scene. A commanding officer at the base where Arlo’s family lives defensively justifies why he doesn’t have any leads on Arlo’s mysterious disappearance and how his hands are tied. After that quick two page spread, the mysterious, unseen narrator takes charge with a simple, declarative statement: “There’s a different version of this story. Not just this story, but this moment.” Visually, we see a dark forest at night and a lone deer caught in the beam of a search party’s flashlight.

Here, in this simply constructed, visually unassuming sequence, writer Adam Smith’s script really begins to soar. With vivid, plaintive language that reads like poetry disguised as prose, Smith paints a stunning verbal picture that stands in stark contrast to the one with see on the page. The lush visual backdrop wonderfully rendered by Illustrator V.V. Glass and colorist Hilary Jenkins, perhaps, could be the exactly same, but the actions and events are nothing alike. We see Ludo standing alone, head tilted way back, staring up into the black, star-filled sky. Presumably, he’s given up his search for the night – a solitary figure in the vast emptiness, despondent, lonely, frustrated.

Smith’s words, however, invoke a wholly different timeline. One that seems to exist somewhere out on the periphery of this one. Instead of the deer, it’s Arlo, “more embarrassed than happy to be found.” Moments later, “she’s washing her hands in the river to clean off the tuna she scooped into her mouth with her fingers.” Working together in concert, the overall effect of the book’s words and pictures is highly evocative, mysterious and heartrending. To be honest, we’re still not quite sure what’s really going on, but we definitely experience and continue to wrestle with a multitude of feelings.

Ultimately, in many ways, the core story here is incredibly straightforward. Two essentially star-crossed lovers, torn apart by fate, try to reunite. The mystery and intrigue implicit in the idea of a universe that consists of multiple, web-like timelines, however, take the narrative to a different level. Beyond that, the interaction between Smith’s eloquent script and the deceptively elegant visual narrative make “At the End of Your Tether” #2 something special – a great follow up to the debut issue and an outstanding precursor to the series finale. With the oversized format of 40+ pages of content per issue, the whole thing actually reads much more like a graphic novel – in three installments – than a traditional miniseries. And it’s perfectly poised for a provocative, intriguing finale.

Final Verdict: 8.3 “At the End of Your Tether” #2 is a well constructed issue in a nontraditional series that delivers an experience greater than the sum of it’s parts.


John Schaidler

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