Ever so often there comes a time where you encounter a character so evil and twister yet so sure in their evil that they become a charming figurehead for a group swept up in their grandeur that you can’t help but sit back and watch in awe. “Sheltered” has provided us with another of those characters and with each issue has slowly been building a story that may prove one of the most interesting comics has ever seen.
Written by Ed Brisson
Illustrated by Johnnie Christmas
Still reeling from the events leading to the death of one of their own, Safe Haven receives an unexpected visit from a group of outsiders. Friends? Or have these outsiders come to take everything that the kids have fought to save?
“Sheltered” has slowly been toiling away at it’s first arc, which concludes here, and building a narrative that really stands out even among Image Comics’ stable of “out there” series. However, the key word there has definitely been slowly. This is the fifth issue of the series and we’re only just starting to see things build now that all those pesky things like introductions and motivations are out of the road. This allows for Ed Brisson and Johnnie Christmas to really start to explore what makes this book stand out so much: the fact that Lucas is such an unrepentant psychopath.
We’ve seen it more and more with each issue, but it’s here that Brisson and Christmas solidify just how mesmerizing terrifying the character of Lucas is. While he’s not the main character nor is he the main antagonist, he’s really just a character like any other who happens to be the leader of the encampment. He also seems to be ruthless, deceiving and charming that mixes to create an enchanting character that you can never second guess. He’s unpredictable in his actions largely because you can never guess whether he’s going to go nutso and gun someone down or manipulate someone out of a blossoming relationship and it is simply fascinating. While the story still isn’t up to much, this character that Brisson and Christmas have created is the pretty much the reason to keep watching this book.
However, as interesting as Lucas is as a character, there is a major problem in how slowly the series is progressing. This is the fifth issue and serves as the conclusion of the first arc and while it does end on quite the epic cliffhanger, there just hasn’t been a whole lot of progress since issue one. Sure, first arcs are notorious for having to set up characters and locations that story takes place in, but “Sheltered” takes place in one location with only a handful of characters which you would hope would allow for a quick build into the story. To Brisson’s credit, the world he and Christmas has created is very interesting and populated with fascinating characters, but the fact that we’ve seen them do so very little in five issue is frustrating. The quality of writing on display here is stellar with interesting characters, dialogue and ideas presented, there’s just simply no narrative push behind it.
No matter what can be said about “Sheltered” one of those things is not that the art is bad. In fact, in a lot of ways, the art is the consistently great part of the book. Johnnie Christmas, who may have the best name in the whole world, creates an atmosphere with his art that elevates the entire issue and series as a whole. There’s such a sense of claustrophobia created by the wide expanse of the snow-topped mountain side knowing that no one can leave under the watchful eye of Lucas is genuinely palpable on the page. It’s helped by a script that does create tension through it’s character interaction and just feeds on the raw talent of Christmas. Christmas’ art also helps drive home the notion that all of the eyes characters, including and most especially Lucas, are children who have created this twisted society for themselves. The art really drives home just how twisted the concept is, showing that this might end up closer to a horror book than originally thought if it went anywhere with the narrative.
Overall, this issue brought to a close the series’ first arc in as slow a manner as it opened. Hopefully, the cliffhanger at the end of the issue is a tease that thing are about to pick up the pace which is what this series needs. It already has an extremely solid, if twisted, premise behind it fleshed out with fascinating characters and a location dripping with atmosphere thanks to the art. All it needs is that jumpstart that comes with a solid story arc that ramps up the stakes and the tension and this could become a truly great series.
Final Verdict: 7.8
