“Home” #1 brings a powerful and emotional story; the first issue sets the stage for a series that hits very close to home. It depicts the current struggles that immigrant families escaping the horrors of their native land face every day in this country.
Written by Julio AntaCover by Lisa Sterle
Illustrated by Anna Wieszczyk
Colored by Bryan Valenza
Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-ElhaouWhen a young boy is torn away from his mother while seeking asylum at the U.S. border, something begins to change in him, and it isn’t just the trauma, anxiety, and guilt you’d expect. He doesn’t know it yet, but it’s the onset of superhuman abilities that will change his life forever. JULIO ANTA and ANNA WIESZCZYK debut with a deeply grounded and heartfelt five-issue series that explores the real-world implications of a migrant with extraordinary powers.
Within only the first few pages, “Home” #1 is able to establish an emotional setting and create scenes to make a reader question so much in life. The beginning shows the struggles of a mother and her child, Mercedes and Julio Gomez, traveling thousands of miles in search for a better life, seeking asylum in the U.S from Guatemala. Every panel depicts another step towards their potential new home while also showing the hardships of their past lives. While these events unfold, the narrative quotes the U.S’s horrifying announcement regarding their “Zero Tolerance Policy” and makes generalized accusations of immigrants from South America. The opening gives the reader hopes for these characters to get to where they are heading.
When they are close to the end of their journey, Mercedes and Julio are in for a devastating surprise. Julio Anta writes heartbreaking scenes that hint towards the truth of where their long journey concludes. The way Anta writes this narrative makes the readers feel both sorrow and frustration. Within every page, the family’s situation gets worse. Anta does a great job building up to these hardships. Anta introduces characters that show little remorse towards the family and what they are doing to them. There are a few characters we see that seem to question the situations and how these immigrants are getting treated, but are too timid to speak out.
Anna Wieszczyk’s style is simple, but with enough detail to capture each scene accurately. Facial expressions were drawn flawlessly; every close up on a character’s face set very convincing tones that embellished the dialogue. It was easy on readers to differentiate between characters that were facing sorrow, and characters who were cold and stern. However, Wieszczyk illustrations fell a little short when it came to proportions. The style was more on the cartoony side which makes it fine in most cases. In some scenes the hands were drawn a little big which felt off, however it was a nice touch in scenes where character were hugging and embracing each other.
Towards the end of the issue, there’s some dreadful scenes when children start becoming separated from their parents. It’s only a matter of time until the worst case scenario is shown for Mercedes and Julio. The creative team does a great job at depicting everything that happens from the events themselves and the characters reactions.
Bryan Valenza’s colors also complement Wieszczyk’s style with the softer color choices. With the panels that depicted the family on the move, he kept warmer colors throughout every panel to feel rough and giving the sense of how hot it was when traveling. The night scenes have a cooler palette, giving that colder and lonely night feel. The cooler palette remained in the processing center, which was also referred to in the comic as “The Icebox.” The color choices in these panels were spot on. It made the place feel like the prison that it was. The cool colors also helped make the characters feel more scared and isolated. Both the illustrations and colors really drove each scene. The minimalistic style let the narrative and facial expressions drive the scenes.
Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou lettering choices were also very interesting. In many comics, whenever there is dialogue in another language, letterers tend to put the words in italics within brackets and a boxed asterisk note. Otsmane-Elhaou chooses to only use one boxed asterisk in the begging noting anything in Spanish would be in red. This was a smart choice on Otsmane-Elhaou’s part, as this kept everything easy to read and didn’t overcrowd the pages.
“Home” #1 develops the setting of this series really well. Julio Anta takes as much time as needed to pace this story before getting into the surprise the readers get at the end of the issue. This shocking moment is what gives potential to this series as a whole. Issue #1 gave a lot of developments in only one comic, and it seems there’s going to be so much more to explore. The series is set to be only five issues, but this issue gives the hope that each one will pack a punch. Overall this comic was powerful and emotional. It may be hard for some readers to get through it as it unfortunately relates very closely to the current state in this country. However, this comic may also do well in educating people who don’t fully understand these troubling times as well.
Final Verdict 8.5 –Beautiful and powerful emotional story, that sets so much potential for the series going forward.
