SINS OF THE --wait
(Spoiler free-ish)
(Spoiler free-ish)
Synopsis
SHUTDOWN! A vengeful god stalks the corridors of the Lost Light, murdering everyone who makes eye contact. The crew must answer two questions: Why have they been singled out for punishment? And how do you stop someone who can kill you just by thinking about it?
..sure, that'll work
Story
We have reached the second part of the final arc before the 50th milestone, and the last chance to see what is going in some of the Lost Light's crew members' heads. Quite literally, with James Roberts' newfound torture instrument for our regular space-opera-meets-horror-meets-sitcom-meets: the Transformers god of death, Mortilus, and its vessel, the biggest mnemosurgeon around, Sunder.
How?
With the horror side of the story (more on the other side below), Roberts actually brings us a lot closer to the initial arcs of this particular ongoing. A lot of the issue, in fact, feeds back into an older vibe for the book, also given Skids' first introduction to MTMTE as an outsider to the situation, and his clearly pivotal role in the grand scheme of things.
Nope
The problems I had with the issue, and I find myself repeating a previous thought, are with the pacing - and with the fact that this is another conclusion that feels rushed, even actually cut short. I understand that the length of the comic can only allow so much. But still, some things feel like they're lacking a part to them, or that more could be said and told.
Oh, and Tailgate's in it too
That is not to say that I don't realise and understand that there are, obviously other developments to be expected, especially with the preview and covers being what they are and featuring who they do. We will be seeing how a lot of what happens in here will affect the rest of the crew, of the series, and probably of the TFverse, without too many doubts on that last part, either.
Art
We've seen what Hayato Sakamoto can do in previous issues, and in his work on the TFCC and Takara Legends comics - what we get here is a shift further into the latter style, and something which feels more his, with some significant manga traits, and some definite horrorific, twisted, Junji Ito/Neon Genesis Evangelion-esque moments that add to the already present early feel of the MTMTE run streaming through this particular issue.
Nightmares on the house
Even with the usual vibrancy of colours that Joana Lafuente brings to the palette, the choice of darker reds, blues, purples and oranges (interesting combination there...) really does add to the space horror elements this time round - though at times perhaps too bright for a ship that is supposedly in dim light to avoid eye contact.
There are oodles of lettering scattered around the book, with Sunder's voice bubbles and the multiple ...noises. And Tom B. Long has the arduous, but surely satisfying given the result, task of capturing them all, each and every time. The two main variant covers are as fitting as you would expect, with Tailgate and Thunderclash taking main stage for Alex Milne and Josh Perez, Rung staring down Sunder in the Nick Roche/Josh Burcham one - and then we have another piece of the gigantically glorious Milne/Perez puzzle in the retailer incentive variant (thumbnailed).
Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead
The not entirely new, but slightly modified/shifted visuals in the book are very fitting to the overall themes present in the issue, and offer a good background to the major narrative trajectories for Tarn, Skids, and their enabling link through Sunder - though, obviously, no resolution yet. This is still Roberts we're talking about.
Senpaaaaaai!
On that note... Much like everything else, from solicits to coverage, surrounding this issue, I have steered clear of any of the major turns taking place in the story, other than Skids' own tale, above. I'll take this last paragraph to just point out one little aspect that will lead to very interesting paths, if kept consistent, for The Dying of the Light and everything after issue #50 - Megatron's development, Tailgate's direction. Very interesting paths indeed.
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out of
out of
