We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #4 // Review
There’s a gentleman holding a gun to the scientist’s back as he pours himself a drink. It’s a Mr. Rook. He’s an agent of a spy organization known as V.E.I.L. Evidently the scientist had been working with V.E.I.L. and they want him back. Strange way of negotiating to have one of their agents pointing a gun at his back, but things aren’t exactly going well in We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #4. Writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Stefano Landini continue a darkly comic spy thriller with colorist Jason Wordie. It continues to be an appealing series, though the longer it strays away from the scientist and his daughter Annalise, the less and less appealing it feels.
Mr. Rook is in the middle of a mess. It’s a big one, too. There’s a missile that’s hit a scientist. No chance he could have possibly survived. Wasn’t a terribly popular scientist. He had a lot of enemies. And since he was in the line of work that he was in...every enemy would have had reason to want him dead and many of them would have had access to a missile. How do you work out who did it when he had so many enemies? You start by investigating his friends. Mr. Rook clearly has his work cut out for him.
Everything in the series that has anything to do with anything other than Annalise is appallingly boring. Rosenberg doesn’t need the rest of everything. The extended plot beyond her only drags everything down. Annalise is a great deal of fun and the good news is that much of the issue IS dedicated to her and her experiences outside in the world beyond he father’s lair. Rosenberg has done such a good job of making her an interesting character that everything else going on that has nothing to do with her seems remarkably weak by comparison.
Landini is at his best when he’s allowed to focus-in on the family drama. The scene at the end between mother, daughter and robot is particularly clever and comic. Landini manages a very tight and well-articulated family drama without ridiculously over-amplifying the drama. Everyone on the page appears to be grounded in a very strong emotional reality that propels the conflict of the plot quite beautifully. There’s a genuine sense of intensity that continues to rest across the page amidst a tastefully-curated color palette that’s been crafted for the series by Wordie.
Though there had been SOME foreshadowing of the meeting between Annalise and her mother, it’s really cool to see it finally play out at issue’s end. And judging from the overall momentum of the series, it really appears a s though it’s going to turn out to be a major turning point for the series as well. The interaction between mother and daughter seems interesting enough that it. could really become the heart of th whole series and turn it into something a hell of a lot more satisfying than it’s been to this point.
