Escape #5 // Review
The bats are looking for an enemy pilot. Last known location: the bakery of a man whose wife was a known activist against the regime. Seems natural that the enemy pilot might be harbored by her husband. The baker’s not exactly nervous, but he’s not exactly talkative to the militart who have come by to ask questions. He’s going to have a hell of a time convincing the Colonel and his men that he’s NOT harboring an enemy in Escape #5. Writer Rick Remender and artist Daniel Acuña. The WWII analog drama continues with an appealing combination of military suspense and interpersonal drama.
The Colonel is deliberately asking questions meant to provoke the baker, but he’s too smart to let anything slip. The Colonel seems well aware that the baker is hiding something, but he’s not going to bully the baker any more than he absolutely has to. It’s a delicate dance that just might find the Colonel leaving empty-handed. The enemy pilot needs to be gone as quickly as possible, but he’s deep behind enemy lines for a reason and he’s not going to be able to find his way out without considerable risk to himself and anyone who might run into him.
Remender’s script works on a few different levels. The intense scrutiny of the state enters a squalid home of a man who is simply trying to survive. Life for the military in a totalitarian regime is better than it would be during peacetime and the bats know it. They’re enjoying the authority that they have while it lasts. Meanwhile the enemy pilot is in a desperate situation trying to strike a strategic blow that might just bring the war to an end. The interpersonal drama provides a solid foundation for the hero’s mission that becomes clear at issue’s end.
Acuña coats page and panel in the darkness of heavy shadow. The dark colors which accompany this would feel claustrophobic were it not for the fact that there’s a strong sense of depth and stillness about the page throughout the issue. There’s a very ominous feel about the visuals that seem powerfully potent even as the heroes slowly scramble along the edges of the central conflict of the war. It’s all quite well-balanced in another issue that seems to be moving through some very interesting territory as it treads familiar elements in a way that feels new.
There’s a strong sense of intensity that seems to be weighing down the page. Everything seems so very, very heavy from beginning to end and yet there’s such a powerful momentum in the scenes assembled into the issue. Remender and Acuña continues to develop a very solidly-rendered series that feels like a painstakingly mutated tale of life during WWII. Nearly every character walking into the panel seems interesting and compelling in one way of another. Exceedingly clever stuff from beginning to end that may echo a lot in the WWII historical genre, but is unmistakably unique beyond the echoes.
