There's Nothing There #2 Featured Reviews 

“There’s Nothing There” #2

By | June 16th, 2017
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Maria Llovet’s smart, stylish illustrations continue to dazzle while writer Patrick Kindlon’s sarcastic dialogue provides bitingly clever commentary on celebrity obsession and the pitfalls of being famous. The story itself, however, falls a little short, leaving the book’s high concept promise largely unfulfilled. There’s definitely something there, but so far it’s not quite enough.

Cover by Maria Llovet
Written by Patrick Kindlon
Illustrated and Colored by Maria Llovet
Lettered by Jim Campbell

Reno puts ghosts on the back burner to walk the red carpet. But hauntings aren’t scheduled things, and she soon finds herself visited by another restless spirit. Meanwhile, more corporeal threats begin to form around her as a stalker and an angry sex cult jockey for position. It’s beginning to feel like nowhere is safe.

It’s only natural, I suppose, that after a drug- and sex-fueled debut issue featuring a multi-page spread with 40-50 panels devoted a mysterious occult orgy, there’s going to be a bit of a letdown. What’s a little harder to understand is how much the pace slows down and how little actually happens in this issue. To be sure, there are still plenty of ominous signs and a clear undercurrent of foreboding, but if you like to be totally creeped out or revel in the macabre, you’ll have wait at least one more issue – or so the back matter promises.
Fortunately, Maria Llovet’s brilliant illustrations easily carry the load.

In this issue’s first panel, Reno’s personal assistant and confidant, Celia, tells her celebrity client, “You’re outfit is perfection.” I don’t think anyone would claim this issue is perfect, but Maria Llovet’s incredible artwork is pretty damn close.

Her colors alone are a visual feast, with a retro-psychedelic palette heavy on purples, greens and a chilling indigo that makes her characters seem like they are trapped in perpetual twilight. Her loose but confident line work echoes this dynamic, lending everything a slightly timeless quality that feels reminiscent of haute couture ink and watercolor fashion renderings from a fantastical lost issue of Vogue. No doubt, the costuming is truly fabulous. After every character’s entrance you can almost hear paparazzi shout, “Who are you wearing?” Indeed, even in the midst of a crisis, Reno asks newcomer Kyle a similar question. “It’s for the premiere,” he responds, not missing a beat, “it’s sorta a hip-hop flying ace mashup. You like it?”

That’s Kyle’s idea of being clever and original, especially since the movie in question is “about the Tuskegee Airmen with an all rapper cast.”

It’s no mystery, at this point, that “There’s Nothing There” hinges on the notion that in world fueled by social media like and shares, style is more important that substance. Whatever lies below the surface – or behind the façade – is of little or no consequence. Public perception pays the bills. Everything else is beside the point. Celia totally gets this, while Reno herself is starting to question it all – and see visions of creepy dead people with deep black pits for eyes. It’s an ingenious premise and Llovet’s wonderful illustrations beautifully underscore the theme, but is it enough?

A mere two issues into the run, we don’t yet know why the young, beautiful protagonist, Reno, is famous, it’s simply enough to know that she is. She could be a model, an actress, a musician, a reality TV star or an Instagram celebrity with millions of followers. It really doesn’t matter. And that’s definitely part of the point. Paparazzi and columnists stalk her, fans instantly recognize her, and she walks the red carpet at random movie premieres simply because she can, or should, because that’s what celebrities do.

She spends her nights at high profile events, followed by after parties and after-after parties.

In the harsh light of day, she spends her time recovering from it all, trying to fill in the blanks and piece it all back together. Trying to determine – through the haze of sex, drugs and fabulous outfits – if what she saw was real or mere chemically-induced hallucinations.

Even well before it’s release, “There’s Nothing There” was positioned as a high concept book, fusing occult creepiness with image-obsessed celebrity worship and social media vapidity. Much of the advance praise employed the highly specific adjective “Lovecraftian.” Two issues into run, however, nothing that’s happened so far even vaguely approaches the horror master’s bone chilling, epic weirdness, decidedly leaving that promise unfulfilled.

Final Verdict: 7.2 With a solid premise, clever dialogue and gorgeous artwork, “There’s Nothing There” hints at greatness. In the second issue, however, not a whole lot happens. At this point, the stage is set, it’s time to unleash the beasts.


John Schaidler

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