News From the Fallout #3 // Review
Joe and Rob are fighting. Rob’s telling Joe that Irene doesn’t need a bullet. It would be kind of a weird thing to argue about if it weren’t for the fact that Joe is holding a rifle and aiming it. And it wouldn’t necessarily be dangerous if it weren’t for the fact that Rob’s grabbing the end of the rifle and Joe’s got his finger on the trigger. It’s a dangerous situation and it’s about to get worse in News From the Fallout #3. Writer Chris Condon continues an engrossing zombie drama with artist Jeffrey Alan Love. The stylish, moody atomic-era drama continues.
Elsewhere there’s a guy sitting down at the service station. He’s mentioning something about what a fine morning it is, which is a bit weird considering the haze outside and the fact that there are lifeless people walking around in the vast desert outside. Guy says that was was born in a place called Ambrose. Evidently he’d been cast out of that place. Found his way into the military under the name Sheridan McCoy. Rose in the ranks. Eventually became a general. Now he’s changed in more than just rank and he’s talking about what a nice day it is as the zombies mill about outside. Clearly something is wrong.
Condon continues a deliciously stagnant drama. There’s such a feeling of death about the page. It’s difficult to lock that in and still make it feel appealing. Condon finds the right routes through the desert of human loss and into some pretty dark shadows of human emotion. It’s remarkably clever stuff that draws the drama out in a genre that is more typically at home in more of a physically dynamic sort of energy. There’s deeper drama with members of the ensemble that begins to reveal itself. That drama very well might be playing on some deeper themes, but the slow pulse of the story is going to make any deeper themes take their time in migrating across the page.
There is something about Love’s haunting silhouettes that manage to maintain a stylishly eerie moodiness that continues to hold it considerable gravity on the page. It's a bit weird that it would be as compelling as it is given the fact that all of that ink in all of that haze would probably get boring by the end of the third issue. Love’s approach to framing and executing the action keeps it all remarkably fresh throughout the issue. Condon is keeping the action moving in a way that looks visually compelling on the page even if there isn't necessarily a whole lot of action going on in the script. There's enough visual cues to keep the thing feeling remarkably immersive and compelling.
Artists themes are beginning to resonate on the page as this series reaches the end of its third issue. It was going to be interesting seeing where he's taking it from here. There seems to be a little bit more going on a traditional zombie apocalypse, sort of a story. So it's going to be interesting to see where Condon and Love take it from here.
