Yumi: 00EX #3 // Review
Something that her car tells her triggers a memory. And she’s proposing to a guy who had proposed to her long ago. (So long ago it kinda looks like kawaii Manga in her memory.) She’s proposing to him, but he’s not exactly in a position to refuse her. He’s naked and tied to a chari. But he’s not exactly in a position to accept her proposal as he’s got a gag in his mouth. Things are about to get even weirder in Yumi: 00EX #3. Writer Doug Wagner and artist Hoyt Silva reach the penultimate chapter in their four-part series with colorist Kevin Lennertz.
As difficult as it might be to reconnect with her old love, Yumi is going to find it quite a bit more difficult with Ms. V constantly criticizing her and...essentially threatening her life. Ms. V kicks Yumi in the stomach, causing her to double-over in pain. Then there’s a knee to the jaw and a bit more abuse. Of course...things are going to get a lot more complicated from there...particularly with regard to her father, who has particularly sinister plans for the world as it is his birthday. Yumi’s clearly got her hands full.
Wagner lets the absurdity of the comedy overpower what could have been a much more coherent story. Granted: a lot of the absurd humor actually hits. It lands pretty well. It just doesn't develop into a centrally focused story all that well. There's just too much going on. There are too many weird things that have gotten stuck together. If there was more of a sober pacing about things, it might go along way towards amplifying the weirdness of the absurdity. Throwing all of that whimsy together into a single issue without a whole lot of connective tissue feels very unfocused.
Silva has a solid handle on the absurd. There’s a clever contrast between the kawaii manga of Yumi’s idealized memories and the weird darkness of her current surroundings. Action can sometimes hit the patient away that feels less than dynamic. The action occasionally feels very stiff. Drama doesn't quite hit the page with the kind of intensity it needs to truly embraced the absurdity of the situation that's being written in the script. It all has a tendency to feel like it's a little bit lost in one direction or another. That being said, it's visually appealing and that it's colorful and there's a lot going on on the page.
Things have a real opportunity to settle down in the final issue as the story reaches its climax. It's entirely possible that the weird and fee for his journey of this series thus far will coal into something that feels much more coherent by the final panel. This is, after all, you work in progress. It's kind of weird getting this particular story in slices. It could actually work much better in a trade paperback format than it does in individual issues. Time will tell.
