“Relay” #3

“Relay” #3 answers some of the questions raised in the conclusion of issue #2. But the answers come at a great cost and with even larger and more dangerous questions. This review will contain spoilers.

Written by Zac Thompson
Illustrated by Andy Clarke
Colored by Jose Villarubia & Dan Brown
Lettered by Charles Pritchett

In the future, the galaxy is united under a monolith known as the Galactic Relay. Although the towering monument is meant to inspire conformity of ideas, technology, and progress, it is not without its enemies, and many have begun to resent the foreign structure. And now, Jad Carter, a Relay employee, has found the Relay’s mythological creator.

An interstellar mug causes a complete breakdown of reality. Jad travels inside the Monolith, but it raises more questions than answers.

Written by Zac Thompson (HER INFERNAL DESCENT) with art by Andy Clarke (REPLICA, Batman) and a story conceived by Zac Thompson, Eric Bromberg (PESTILENCE) and Donny Cates (BABYTEETH, Doctor Strange, Thanos, Venom, God Country), this is a powerhouse of a series that could only be told at AfterShock.

After the events of issue #2, Jad Carter’s fragile faith in the Relay is gone. Unfortunately for Jad, the Relay feels the same way about him. He’s barely awake before one of his now-former partners kicks in the door and hauls him off to detention.

True to the series’ form, we’re shown how Jad feels via his thoughts and the unfurling of events. All the exposition in “Relay” comes in the form of dialogue, either internal or external. There’s no omniscient narrator and no recap. The second story page is a splash of Jad standing in front of a scrap board. It’s assembled from the journal we saw in issue #1 and the new data he gathered on “Donaldson’s World.” By looking at what Jad’s put together, we know how he’s spent his time since returning to the homeworld.

I’m a fan of this kind of storytelling and prefer it to ponderous narration and clunky expository dialogue. But “Relay” might be a little too subtle and understated for its own good. Jad says that “according to legend Donaldson’s index and middle finger are joined” and that the man he met didn’t have this disfigurement. This wasn’t mentioned in the previous issue, even when all three Relay officers greeted the man as Donaldson when they first saw him. A close look at issue #1 finds his hand drawn with the fingers joined in two different images. Clarke composed both pictures in such a way that we’re meant to notice Donaldson’s hand. If Thompson added even one mention of it in issue #2, it would have made Jad’s comments less of a surprise. As it is, it almost feels like a continuity error.

Jad wakes up inside the Monolith, and “Relay” takes a cosmic turn. Clarke renders a double splash page that defies time and space. Many Jads run on what appears to be the Monolith’s spine, frantically searching for an exit and avoiding Relay police. The use of perspective and figures convey a sense of Jad wandering across a vast maze for a long time before finding his way out. It’s a Ditko-esque splash in all the right ways. At the center of the spread is a clue about what the Monolith might be. But its appearance and Jad’s description of what he sees don’t seem to match. Is it because it’s too large for Jad to see? This is never made clear, but hopefully its another example of “Relay’s” understated storytelling and we’ll learn more later.

Villarubia colors the Monolith’s interior walls a grayish tint that is unmistakably organic. When Jad wanders across the dimension-spanning splash page, the background is a reddish purple that makes the inside of the Monolith feel otherworldy and distinctly different from the space that the colony ships flew through the last issue. When Jad emerges from the top of the Monolith we see a remarkable aerial shot of the city. Clarke populates the town with dozens of skyscrapers, each one just detailed enough to provide a sense of the oppressive uniformity of the Relay. Villarubia’s colors add perspective to the shot. He tints the bottom quarter of the page a pale yellow from the spotlights reflecting on the Monolith.

The cover of “Relay” #3 contrasts a prisoner with a sack over his face with the recurring image of Donaldson with his face concealed under a hood. We learn that the prisoner is probably Jad, wearing a “voicesac.” This scene happens in the story, but Clarke relegates it to a small panel at the end of Jad’s arrest. It’s an interesting choice since it had the potential to be an even more powerful image with Vic in the shot, looking on as Jad screams.

Vic’s first appearance foreshadowed her actions in issue #3. She told us exactly what she was going to do on the first page we saw her. But, since she was also a skeptic about the existence of Donaldson’s World, her vicious defense of the Relay also comes as a bit of a surprise. This is an example of “Relay’s” subtlety working well.

Where does “Relay” go from here? While this is a book with a sweeping scope, we only have two characters left. Will someone return? I’m in for the duration either way.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Relay” #3 picks up the pace in a complex science fiction narrative that continues to impress.