Nectar #3 // Review
There is a plague that is spreading across the island. The holy man refers to it as the devil's dance. It's not difficult to understand where he's coming from. Not having seen the symptoms of the plague. The neurological spasms. The blood. The dismemberment. It's horrifying. Naturally there's going to be some level of panic. Naturally people are going to resort to drastic measures for survival in Nectar #3. Writer Jeremy Robinson continues a jarring horror series with the art team of Annapaola Martello and Francesco Francini. Color comes to the page courtesy of Steve Canon. Things get even more bleak in another chilling issue.
The holy man is addressing a crowd. A couple of victims who are dancing around. One of them loses a foot in the process of expiring. By this time, many of the inhabitants of the island haven't seen something along these lines. Or at least heard about it. So well, there is horror, there is some consideration. There is some desire to leave the island. And there are those who do not want to see the horrors of the plague spread beyond its shores. Suffice it to say there's a conflict between the two. That conflict is going to spread like the plague.
Robertson balances things out quite well. It's interesting to see how an issue with this much bloodshed could also be as even tempered as it is. And people are panicking, but they're doing so in a way that is encumbered with exhaustion. There's a hell of a lot of bloodshed. The body count in this particular issue is particularly high. But through it all there's a sense of determination that serves as the central heart of a story featuring two rival factions that engage each other on the island. It’s a slow and even-tempered darkness.
There's a lot of death going on. There's a lot of bloodshed. Body count this high in a single issue runs the risk of desensitizing the audience. Or perhaps in the worst case scenario coming across as being kind of silly. Thankfully, the art team does a really good job of embracing the horrifying nature of death under such circumstances as the plague that spread spreading in this series. The sober nature of that becomes very atmospheric thanks to the coloring work of Canon. It’s all quite exquisite throughout. The contrast between the splatter and spray of blood and the beautiful wings of monarch-like butterflies serves as a powerful visual at the heart of the series.
There's a whole lot of death in this issue. Even for a horror comic book. Nevertheless, the value of each human life is powerful felt in a series that has allowed individual characters and opportunity to make their impression on the page before their untimely demise. So there's a connection there. And that emotional connection serves to lend a little bit more beauty to an already beautifully, awful and horrifying story. It's really well executed on every level.
