After fifteen issues, it’s time for “Mind The Gap” to finally lift the veil and reveal some of the answers to the questions surrounding Elle Peterssen’s situation. What follows is not a death, but a transformation as the things revealed really do change the nature of the title. Let’s dive into this, shall we?
Written by Jim McCannIllustrated by Rodin Esquejo & Dan McDaid
The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? EVERYTHING changes here. Which life will Elle choose—The Garden, Earth, or Death? Elle Peterssen Is Dead. Long Live Elle Peterssen.
For the last fourteen issues, “Mind The Gap” has largely operated as a mystery through obfuscation. By cleverly hiding certain details from the reader about the story and the characters, Jim McCann was able to create a mystery that was genuinely engaging and, most importantly, fulfilling. Often times writers of mysteries can fall into the trap of creating artificial mysteries by hiding details from the reader and only revealing them in a way that can create a new mystery. Thankfully, because of McCann’s focus on the mystery of Elle Peterssen, he hasn’t succumbed to that falsehood of storytelling. Instead, he created a rich, enthralling narrative that, in one way, concludes here and, in another, transforms into something else entirely.
It’s a testament to McCann’s strength as a character writer that he has been able to construct a mystery around a central character who is unable to interact with anyone except in flashbacks. Instead of keeping Elle’s relationships to the central characters in the focus, he is able to explore everyone around Elle’s relationship to each other. This is why this series is still as engaging as it was in the first issue. While comparisons to Lost are an unfortunate side-effect of mystery writing nowadays, it’s an important comparison to make because it illustrates that both series’ focus is on the characters and their relationships to each other. This is important in this issue as most of the story is happening in flashbacks, so the sequences taking place in the present is focused on the character’s dealing with the situation.
Without getting into spoiler territory, the crux of this issue’s story is focused on finally revealing Elle’s past which both answers questions and raises in more. That’s always the nature of these things, isn’t it? While it’s an important part of the issue, it is, for my money, weaker than the scenes in the present as it simply doesn’t have the emotional weight of them. It’s sadly overshadowed by the fact that the characters surrounding Elle in the present have built such a connection to the reader throughout fourteen issues that seeing them deal with the situation presented here is where the emotional core lies.
Jim McCann is joined on art here by not only series regular Rodin Esquejo, but also by Dan McDaid. As the issue is divided between sequences set in the present and flashbacks, the art duties are divided with Esquejo taking the former and McDaid taking the latter. Both of these artists have very different styles, with Esquejo having very a very clean style and McDaid using much more ragged pencils and heavy shadows. This leads to a very nice contrast with the scenes in the hospital and the Garden looking even cleaner and more sterile thanks to how heavy and dark the shadow work is in flashbacks. Unfortunately, much like with the writing, Esquejo’s artwork far outshines McDaid’s thanks to some very heavy emotional work in a couple of silent pages. McCann really knows to how play to both of their styles, though, as each section feels wholly distinct from the other while keeping a uniform feeling to the story. Like looking back at painful memories through the haze of time, McDaid’s rendering of the flashbacks bring a harder, almost painful edge to the tales of Elle’s childhood. Both artists bring a lot to the book which results in a lot of emotion being poured into an issue that was already telling a heavy story. What results is simply masterful storytelling that elevates an already personal and emotional story.
While this is indeed the end of the first act of “Mind The Gap”, it, rather fittingly, feels more like a metamorphosis. McCann deftly pulls back the veil on a number of mysteries that have been a part of the book since the very first issue, but ends the issue with even more mysteries going forward. Coupling wonderful character writing that manages to genuinely tug at the heartstrings with wonderful art that conveys the emotional weight of the issue, this was the perfect way to cap this act. A special note should also go to Jim McCann’s letter at the end of this issue, which gives an even more personal context to the emotions of this issue. Bring on Act Two.
Final Verdict: 9.1 – This series is a strong as it has always been and is set to only get better.
