Written and Illustrated by Joshua Luna
A mentally troubled man is suddenly empowered with the ability to leave his physical body in “ghost” form and manipulate people in strange and disturbing ways. With this incredible power, will he control his demons…or discover even more?
JOSHUA LUNA of the Luna Brothers (ULTRA, GIRLS, THE SWORD) makes a solo debut with a dark, supernatural thriller that questions free will and explores the obsessions, addictions and urges we all have and may not have control of at all.
Joshua and Jonathan Luna are often referred to collectively as the Luna brothers, and have collaborated on a few critically-acclaimed comics. This time, though, Joshua is striking out solo, telling a story about mind-reading, dream-walking, psychic suggestion, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is my first experience with either half of the duo, so check out what I thought of this first issue after the cut.
I do really like a lot of what Joshua Luna is doing here. First of all, our protagonist, Sam, is very well characterized. His obsessive-compulsive is very well portrayed without being too over-the-top – well, at least no more over-the-top than obsessive-compulsive disorder already is. His behavior is odd, sure, but the thought processes that Luna shares with us make his behavior and dialogue believable rather than absurd. Pair a well-developed character like that with an intriguing core concept? Now you have my attention. Whispers has just that. What if you could give your friends and family just the gentlest push in the “right” direction and be guaranteed they would follow it? What kind of responsibility does that entail, and would you be able to handle it? It would be an interesting idea even with a dull lead character, but Sam is clearly the kind of character on whom this kind of ability will take its toll, and it will be interesting to see where he stands when everything comes crumbling down.
The biggest problem with this first issue, though, lies in everybody that isn’t Sam. Whereas Sam is a believable, complex character, every other sounds a little “fake.” They’re just a bit over-written, and their dialogue comes across less like “This is what I, a fully-fleshed character would organically say,” and more like “This is what I, the author, want this character to say.” This is particularly troublesome in the second half of the issue, when Sam’s ability to hear other’s thoughts is made manifest, because this same problem is present in their thoughts. I could just be a bit crazy, but my thoughts tend to be significantly more scattered than my dialogue, and lack almost any form of construction. Of course, Joshua has to make the thoughts of his characters’ thoughts decipherable, but he has them appear so “put together” that the suspension of disbelief is broken – not that Sam could read this person’s mind, but that anyone but maybe Sam would think like that. And I think that’s the heart of the problem; Sam is clearly a character who takes a lot of effort to perfect, and it can be hard to drop their mannerisms when you switch to a different character. I think what’s hurting every other character is that there’s just a bit of Sam in them. There’s a tiny obsessive twinge to the way they talk, the way they think, that manifests itself as authorial intrusion.
Joshua Luna’s art stands out from many other comics artists. Imagine, if you will, a scale with realism on the right and stylization on the left. Very few artists, if any, fall directly in the middle of that scale. From my personal reading experience, I’d place the average comics artist somewhere left-of-centre, with people like Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos landing among the far left. Now, most comic artists that go for a more realistic style tend to be outliers, going as realistic as they can manage without equivocation. These would be the Alex Ross’s of the industry. Joshua Luna, however, is unique in that he is one of the very few artists I have seen who lean toward realism without going all-out. I’d even put him closer to centre than most artists – there is some clear stylization at hand, but his figures and his shading evoke a level of real world feeling that just can’t be shaken.
Continued belowThe good news is that this makes Luna’s art memorable. He’s found a way to make his art stick out and be unique without having to do something that might be bizarre and off-putting. The only problem is the same problem that any art that sits on the right of the scale faces: there are some moments where the art just seems a bit too static. It’s such a bummer, too, because you can just see that if this were an action book, that little twinge of stylization would automatically kick in and give Joshua Luna’s figures that spark of life, but that’s not what this comic is about at all. As is, you can tell that he’s trying really hard – the brief sequence at the sink is a great example of how to make the mundane dynamic without overselling it – but for the most part not quite getting there. If Luna is able to ignite that potential within the next few issues, though, this book will change from one with “just” unique art – a feat in and of itself – to a truly great-looking book.
I do have a handful of problems with this book, but it’s still a solid comic. There’s so much potential energy stored in this title that it would be dangerous to look away, and if Joshua Luna is able to get a better grip on it within the next couple of issues, he will undoubtedly have a smash hit on his hands. Above all, though, I have to give him a bow for doing everything in this comic. No, not just writing and penciling, like many writer/artists – Joshua writes, pencils, inks, colors, and letters this comic all by himself. Now that’s an achievement almost worthy of a buy rating in and of itself.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Buy it!
