Originally posted on Irish Comic News (24/Nov/2017)
Written by Michael Gordon.
Line art by Henrique Pereira.
Colour art by Jan Wijngaard.
Letters by Jim Campbell and Colin Bell.
Cover art by Federico De Luca.
Edited by Neil Gibson.The Transdimensional team have returned after yet another successful Kickstarter campaign with issue two (review of issue one here) of the four issue mini-series.
Issue two picks up where issue one left off. The crew are making their descent to the abandoned submarine that Price hopes will cure his daughter. The focus of this issue is Price entering the abandoned submarine, accompanied by his estranged wife Grace, and discovering the horrors that lie within. The story initially follows a story suggested by the closing pages of issue one but still throws in some surprises towards the end of the comic. The writing (Gordon) develops on the drive Price has to save his daughter. There are interactions between him and the crew that show a friction between them. But Price has a goal to achieve and pushes past that.
The line and colour art (Pereira and Wijingaard) give a strong sense of claustrophobic horror that goes with a story where the characters are in essentially a metal box with terrifying creatures. The cramped surroundings and the red and green glow of the consoles dials up the tension as the crew approaches the abandoned submarine. Once Price and Grace board it, the art team unleash the terrors hidden in the submarine upon them. The art team don’t have a sprawling city to play with, so they focus on the action with some good choices of panels to put the reader right in the middle of it.
The lettering team (Campbell and Bell) provide clear text, both in captions and dialogue throughout that doesn’t obscure any of the art. There were a couple of instances where the text dropped to lower-case which threw me the first time I read the comic. But on re-reading, it reads to me as the characters talking in a low whisper to themselves. It’s possible it’s a common way of handling such dialogue but personally it did slightly spoil the flow of the reading due to my confusion about the significance of the lower-case text.
Issue two was an enjoyable addition to this horror mini-series. I liked how the writing keeps moving beyond what the reader was probably expecting based on the earlier part of the story. It adds that extra bit of excitement to the story. Keeps the reader guessing.
The cover for issue two continues with the standard De Luca set for himself on issue one. It’s a striking visual that’s in keeping with the style of issue one.
The team are making a comic that anyone who enjoys some good horror should check out.
Hopefully we won’t have too long to wait for the Kickstarter for issue three.