Middlewest #7 // Review
When the force of pure rage dies-down, sometimes all that’s left is wreckage and apologies. Things look bleak at the epicenter of the ruins for a boy and his fox in the seventh issue of writer Skottie Young’s Middlewest. Artist Jorge Corona contrasts powerful destructive forces against subtle human emotion in a sweepingly massive moment in the series. There is an ominous fusion of various threats that have been looming in the background of the series thus far as the little boy Abel is in danger of being cast out of the one family that’s ever accepted him.
Little Abel has turned into a massive destructive tornado. The tornado in question seems to be tied to his anger as the issue begins in a flashback from his early childhood. An explosion of rage at his mother in the kitchen from distant memory acts as a force of combustion deep in the maelstrom that Abel has become. Maggie’s carnival is coming down around him until her brother comes along to calm things in a way that looks like it almost killed Abel. In the wreckage, Abel rushes away from his newfound family. A friend tries to get him to come back, but Maggie makes it clear that he’s not welcome.
Young’s story reaches a decisive moment as it becomes clear that the powerful menace of Abel’s father is echoed into him. The ability for anger to transform a humble, little human form into something so totally devastating makes for interesting drama. The allegory for the destructive power of anger might be a shadow of themes Kirby and Lee were working on with a certain Dr. Banner, but Young’s concentrated approach to the allegory of the anger/destruction cycle makes it feel fresh in a fantasy world that is stripped of all the background noise that accompanied a silver age comic book story format.
Corona really lets the page have it with the art this issue. The immensity of Abel’s destructive power feels beautifully immense. The demonic tornado feels totally overwhelming in the vast background of the sky as carnies run around in terror in the foreground. The power of the destruction is gorgeously amplified by Beaulieu’s colors. When the storm has passed, the resilience of the wilderness returns as Abel disappears into the rural Middlewestern landscape as the relatively small and equally resilient Fox returns to Abel to reassure him that he’s never going to be alone. The Fox is given a wide array of emotions by Corona including an emotionally affecting anger at the carnies for refusing to reach out to the kid.
In a long-running fantasy serial, it was inevitable that Abel was going to tumble back into the horror of action. He had been hitting hinting at this for a couple of dishes now he had been hitting hinting at this ever since Able joined the carnival. Thanks to the delicate handling of the story, the emotional impact of the inevitable is felt with just as much strength as a random act of nature.
