After telling a claustrophobic tale set under the sea, Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy jumps 200 hundred years and brings the horrors of the ocean to the surface in “The Wake” #6.
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Sean Murphy“My name is Leeward, and this is where my story begins…”
Our story jumps two hundred years into a flooded future where nothing is the same. The second half of THE WAKE starts here!
Last summer, Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy teamed up to launch “The Wake”, a John Carpenter-esque tale following a group of scientist as they investigate a mysterious creature found deep in the ocean. The threat grew larger and more deadly, and along the way there were glimpses of an apocalyptic future where the ocean had risen enough to engulf major cities, and a unknown heroine fought these same mysterious creatures. Now, as the series reaches its halfway point, the five issues following the team trapped under water growing more and more desperate have been revealed as one of the greatest prologues ever committed to paper.
“The Wake” #6 leaps two centuries into the future, as humanity faces annihilation at the hands of the Mers. After first appearing to the doomed team of scientists, the creatures have multiplied and grown stronger. They manipulated the oceans currents, and cause the ice caps to melt. As the water rose and flowed inland, the Mers attacked humanity and caused the descent of civilization into borderline anarchy. Leeward, the previously unnamed heroine, makes her living as a scavenger, until she earns the wrath of a local boss-type. Her world seems bleak and harsh, until a voice from the past appears to offer a chance to fight back against the Mers.
Scott Snyder, like all comic book writers, loves a good twist. What makes “The Wake” different is that the twist comes half through the entire series. Snyder uses the series to tell two different stories: the world before and the world after. The former played to the author’s strengths in terms of slowly growing terror and murderous beings surviving in the real world. Now that the world has gone through its catastrophic change, Snyder uses the opportunity to show large scale decay, not of his characters, but of society at large. The writer’s knack for exposition shines brightly in this issue, and he only needs a couple dozen words to summarize hundreds of years of global destruction. Snyder can do a lot with a little, and the results are very impressive.
After being shown through brief flashforwards, Leeward steps into the centre stage of “The Wake”. Snyder makes the wise decision to allow her actions to inform the reader of her character traits, instead of filling up the beautiful artwork with more words. Leeward’s excursion through the flooded city displays her intelligence, toughness, daring. It makes perfect sense that Leeward would exist in this world, and she fits the environment perfectly. The supported cast gets introduced throughout this issue, and they are all appropriately gritty. They are survivors; the world is harsh and they have grown cold enough make through the day. The main antagonist, the Governess, operates more like a Mafia Don than an elected official. It’s another example of how Snyder uses his characters to say larger things about the society they inhabit. The Governess has the face of integrity and safety, but underneath she is just as ruthless and deadly as the rest of the world.
Sean Murphy was born to draw a decayed society, and it’s clear that the first half of “The Wake” was an artistic tease as well. The confining spaces of the underwater research station have given away to wide open vistas, and the Alien-esque menace of the single Mer has been replaced with the horror of an entire Mer army. Murphy’s style is very hard edged and angular, and can make anything look dangerous and unnerving. This entire world looks sharp, like anything could be a danger. The art doesn’t just contribute to the tone of the book, it is what truly sets the tone.
Just as Snyder is economical with his words, Murphy knows how to get the most out of only a few panels. The scene depicting the Mer invasion lasts only a single page and four panels, but Murphy uses every one of them to show another step in the collapse of civilization. The floods, death, and chaos are only seen in glimpse, but each one creates an indelible impression, and the contrasting images of the globe before and after the floods that bookend the scene are simply gorgeous. A special mention should be made for colorist Matt Hollingsworth, who uses a desaturated palate to further add to the decayed tone.
“The Wake” has taken a giant leap forward, both in terms of timeline and ambition. The creature-horror feel of the first five issues has transformed into a huge tale of global catastrophe. Author Scott Snyder wisely resists the urge to overload the reader with new information about the state of the earth, and instead very effectively used the smallest amount of information necessary. Sean Murphy has taken the terror felt in his illustrations of claustrophobic spaces and transferred them to a panoramic scale, and the world he draws is both beautiful and deadly. “The Wake” #6 feels more like a new #1, like Snyder and Murphy decided not to wait to do the sequel. It’s an amazing start to the second half, and perfectly displays the global intentions of the incredible creative team.
Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy. It’s like Waterworld but, you know, awesome.
