The first issue of “Sheltered” set up a believable pre-apocalyptic community – one where we didn’t learn much about the coming crisis, except that it was imminent, or thought to be, anyway. In this issue, the prevailing sense of unease is ramped up in a big way as a terrifying new order asserts itself.
Written by Ed Brisson
Illustrated by Johnnie ChristmasWith their parents’ blood on their hands, the youth of Safe Haven begin to splinter as doubt is cast on Lucas’s leadership. New arrival Victoria finds that escaping from a compound built to keep others out is near-impossible.
If it didn’t hit you over the course of the first issue, it will definitely hit you now: Safe Haven is anything but. Laying aside the question as to whether it’s inhabited by a cult, there’s already enough doubt and suspicion and distrust in the air to make you question everybody’s motivations.
Put simply, this issue deals with the consequences of Lucas’s coup d’etat. Having killed all the adults in the compound because (apparently – again, shifty motivations) he fears there won’t be enough resources to support them all, he’s got some serious explaining to do when Victoria finds out what happened to her parents.
The pacing is what really makes the disturbing elements of the plot hit home: Victoria and her friend Hailey find out what’s going on bit by painstaking bit, and in the end, what started as a jaunt to the tree house has been transformed into a waking nightmare. It’s heavy stuff, and as the rationalizations for what’s going on come to light, Lucas as a leader and persuasive force becomes a compelling figure indeed. One scene involving a bonfire is more than enough to illustrate how much this guy is to be feared.
Co-creator Johnnie Christmas’s work on the art front continues to be remarkable for the sense of atmosphere and isolation it evokes. The mountains, the snow, even the trees all seem to loom at you, set off by subtly skewed camera angles. The character work, meanwhile, is variable but interesting; characters viewed from a distance are simplified to the point of being caricaturish, while up close they’re quite detailed, and can look like entirely different people.
This dichotomy is especially apparent on the last page, where one of the main characters is significantly glammed up in a way that doesn’t really match up with the way the character has been portrayed previously. This creates an effect of its own, of course, because in a lot of ways this character is a new person. But the emphasis on this fact is maybe a touch too heavy.
One character portrayal that Christmas knocks out of the park, on the other hand, is that of Lucas, the new leader of the compound. Distant, but charismatic and oddly vulnerable, he’s got a lot of presence, and an almost ethereal quality, particularly when he gets a panel to himself.
As for palette choices, Shari Chankhamma’s colours do a lot to emphasize Christmas’s clean lines by leaning heavily into blues and yellows. The delicate contrast between these shades – offset by loads of white snow – is fast becoming a vital part of this series’ visual signature.
By the end of this issue, the slow intrigue has definitely been brought to a crisis – and looking forward, one can reasonably expect that things are going to get more action-heavy. As things stand, though, “Sheltered” is a thoughtful story – one which, like Brisson and Walsh’s “Comeback”, has enough little complexities built in that you could probably discuss and debate it all day. The real question now is how Brisson and Christmas are going develop the themes they’ve already set up.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Buy. It’s still cooking, though.
P.S. For more survivalist paranoia, be sure to check out Ryan K. Lindsay’s “newsletter” at the end.
