Rogue Sun #35 // Review
Hellbent killed Rogue Sun’d friend. Rogue Sun killed Hellbent’s father. The two of them are gong to have to go through some sort of therapy together...and really the only kind of therapy that’s going to work for the two of them is going to have to involve flashy super-powers and a whole lot of aggression. Thus marcs the end of a major story arc in Rogue Sun #35. The writing team of Nick Cotton and Ryan Parrott puts thing to rest for the year in an issue that is brought to page and panel by artist Abel and colorist Natália Marques.
There’s a kid being held captive in an abandoned subway car outside of Baton Rouge. He’s being held captive by a menacing hooded figure with a dingle glowing red eye who is carrying a glowing, red sword. The kid asks the menacing figure if he’s going to kill him. The kid’s pretty calm about the whole situation. Maybe he knows the answer to the question he’s asking. Maybe he knows that he’s not in danger until help arrives. Hellbent isn’t going to kill Byron until the right people show-up. So he’s safe until the heroes come to save him...
There is remarkable power in the overall premise of what's being delivered to the page and the opening conflict. It gets washed away in a lot of other ancillary stuff that is moving around in a bit other elements of the plot. It's a huge ensemble for something of this sort. And a lot of of the power and intensity get lost in a lot of ancillary elements. The writing team really wants to tell a lot of story and it feels like it's all just a bit rushed. Or maybe it's not friend in a way that allows each seem to have its proper intensity.
Some of the visuals are quite impressive. Hellbent looks pretty menacing. And he looks cool. So do the heroes. A lot of the heavy lifting on the aesthetics is accomplished by the colorist. Abel frames tha action and the drama well enough, but Marques is doing a beautiful job of allowing it all to clean together on the page and just the right way. Big stretches of darkness are highlighted and punctuated by bright and radiant color. It all feels quite well executed on a visual level.Marques admirably captures the emotional intensity of what's going on in the faces of everyone in the issue.
The intensity of what being brought to the page isn't really given the right amount of space to assert itself on the page. There's a lot that has to happen this issue as it is the end of a single plot art. However, it would feel much more comfortable if all of the story that happened in this issue took place over the course of at least a couple of extra issues. There's so much this delivered in dialogue that would be a lot more interesting if was embracing the visual storytelling a little bit more.
