The Good
In issue #3, everyone in the rig is trying to stop the monster from escaping or killing everyone off. They find out it has a powerful toxin that can make the person infected have very vivid hallucinations. It makes the crew question what is real and what isn't.
It's hard to talk about this book, issue to issue because it feels more like a giant piece, like watching a movie, with month-long commercial breaks. While I'm loving it month by month, I cannot wait to read this in trade. I really feel like I'm watching a fantastic horror film. It reminds me a lot of the Abyss, but no one is breathing in liquid oxygen... yet. It's paced out very well, and I find myself really drawn to this story. Writer Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy keep the story incredibly interesting and kept me on my toes. Honestly, while Snyder's work on BATMAN is great, I tend to enjoy his Vertigo stuff a bit more. Yes, that's blasphemy, but I find his work in THE WAKE to be incredibly captivating.
Sean Murphy's are here is awesome. It's a style that for me describes the look and feel of Vertigo books, much like how Steve Dillon's (PREACHER) work and Pia Guerra's (Y: THE LAST MAN) work defined a decade of books from that publisher. His art style has this gritty innocence to it that I really like which, oddly enough, adds to the horror feel of the book. Sean Murphy mainly focuses on panel-to-panel storytelling. Sure, we get a cool splash page here and there, which always look epic, but each panel is part of a bigger story, and Murphy does a great job at conveying that here.
The final page of issue #3 really opens up the world and what could happen within this series. Because of the introduction of hallucinations and the neurotoxin, it's hard for the reader to know what's real and what isn't, so it keeps you on your toes. However, there's a very good chance that what we're seeing on this final page is in fact real and incredibly frightening all at the same time.
The Bad
Sorry guys. I'm loving this book... a lot.
The Verdict
This week was a great week for Vertigo. First, we got COLLIDER, which I really loved (Jen is reviewing it later), then we get another amazing issue of THE WAKE. It's Vertigo Christmas today and you're a fool not to take part. This particular issue of THE WAKE was great. Murphy's art is amazing, and Snyder's story is fantastic. If you aren't buying one of these books, then you're crazy. There's no reason not to be reading the WAKE, unless you're a big scaredy-cat (reverse psychology).
Overall, I highly recommend the awesomeness that is THE WAKE.
18 Comments