SFSX (Safe Sex) #5 // Review
A small group of revolutionaries break into a government gala to save a friend. Things never go as planned on this kind of operation as the heroes are about to find out in SFSX (Safe Sex) #5. Writer/creator Tina Horn's dystopian action story heats-up in an infiltration operation adventure that delves a bit more into the nature of the dystopia from behind the glossy sanitation of the morally pure government. Artist Jen Hickman's visual rendering of the action focusses on the emotional drama of the story without applying the pressure of the action that really SHOULD be there in this sort of an infiltration story.
The Dirty Mind crew aren't exactly unequipped for what they're trying. People who engage in S&M on an advanced level are going to have a skillset not entirely incompatible with intrigue and bondage. They know what they're doing, but may not be entirely aware of what awaits them as they try to liberate their friend George from The Pleasure Center during the Second Annual Pleasure Center Honors Gala. Conservative government types in tuxes and fancy dress mill about in the foreground as a group of "deviants" sneak around the back corners of the government facility in search of George.
Horn does a solidly respectable job of setting up the premise of a break-in. The Dirty Mind group is a clever alternative to the usual sorts of people found sneaking into secure facilities in espionage thrillers. However, its too busy juggling all of the elements of the world of SFSX to really dive into the tension of the action. The constant, ominous repetition of the time of night seen at the top of the issue's early panels is a nice touch, but as time isn't really a significant factor in the central conflict, it's a tension device that doesn't really interact with the rest of the plot. Things flow along with a smooth fluidity nonetheless. The basic plot points that need to be delivered this issue are provided with a respectable emotional connection between reader and character. Still, the potential suspense thriller of an infiltration of a government facility doesn't live up to the intensity it should have had.
Hickman's art doesn't help lock-in any more energy of the suspense than Horn's script. The hazy emotional sketchiness that has served the series so well thus far feels a bit out of place in the taut action thriller that Horn seems to be leaning towards with the script. What's more, the big splashiness of a fancy-dress award ceremony should really feel significantly different from the seediness of a government psychological reprogramming facility. The look and feel of what Hickman is bringing to the page look more or less the same.
Stylistic limitations aside, the central story of SFSX remains entertaining into its fifth issue. The emotional contrast between The Dirty Mind revolutionaries and The Party's sinister authoritarian regime remains respectably vivid in a series that feels like it's beginning to build an enjoyable narrative rhythm.
Grade: B
