Feral #21 // Review
He’s the silent one. He’s the one who seems like a bit more of a mystery than the rest of the stray cats. He’s pure white. They call him Ghost. He gets the center of page and panel for the entire length of the issue in Feral #21. Writer Tony Fleecs gives his popular series the silent issue treatment with the art team of Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez. Color comes to the page courtesy of Brad Simpson. It’s a fun and stylish opportunity to get a look at the world of Feral from a distinctly different perspective with one of the more appealing characters in teh ensemble.
They’re in a temporary CDC worksite that has been fashioned out of North Middle School. Everyone’s in cages and they’re all looking nervous and restless. All of them, that is, except for Ghost. He’s looking at the world around him with something of a sense of wonder. When the opportunity presents itself, he’s going to be able to get out of his cage and look around while none of the humans are in the area. Ghost is going to be haunting the middle school. It’s a dark exploration into a very dangerous place for cats.
Fleecs cleverly sets-up an issue with only six words of dialogue at the very end. The format forces Fleecs to find ways of exploring the world of his cats without being expressly verbal for much of the time. There are some clever moments...particularly as Ghost walks across a computer terminal featuring CDC-related emails. So much of the series has been seen through the eyes of the cats. It’s interesting to finally get a glimpse of just how big the epidemic might be. Beyond that there is a rich sense of depth about the world as Fleecs allows Ghost a little bit of exploration.
Forstner and Rodriguez are given a wide area in which to deliver all of the specifics of the CDC worksite. The converted middle school makes for a rich and interesting backdrop for the thriller. The temporary work spaces have hastily come to inhabit a space that’s still ostensibly set-up for classes. There are many layers of setting and storytelling going on in and around Ghost, who is given a profoundly deep emotional connection through body language and facial expressions. It’s a fascinating study in how to tell a story visually without being painfully obvious about everything that’s going on.
Ghost is the center of the issue, which has to make the 21st one of the best in the series thus far...but there ARE some rather cute touches around the edges of the issue. The North Middle School mascot is the Wildcat. So it’s a CDC center for the treatment of feral cats and there are posters up everywhere for the NMS Wildcats. It’s clever stuff. There’s a strikingly immersive level of detail about NMS that adds considerably to the unique personality of a very, very memorable issue.
