The Forged #13 // Review
Hap is trapped. She;[a in the Nine Moons Naval Proving Ground in the Apoloias System. There are a whole bunch of armed guards who are coming to get her. She is armed herself. But she's in no position to defend off an entire army of security. Thankfully, she has help. It comes in the form of an artificial organism. That organism has triggered an alarm. A false alarm. Radiation wait. Hopefully it’ll work. Sje’ll fid out in The Forged #13. The writing team of Greg Rucka and Eric Trautman continue their space famtasy epic with artist Mike Henderson. Color comes to the page courtesy of Nolan Woodard.
Hap it's only just getting to know the thing that has saved her life. It's kind of looking kind of distinct. And it hasn't really come up with a name for the form that it's chosen. Nor has it really come up with an appearance. And so it decides to look exactly like her. Refers to itself as Hap 2.0. And well that's really flattering and everything, it's more than a bit confusing. But.Hap is willing to accept just about anything if it's going to mean, having a chance to escape alive.
Rucka and Trautman I have a lot going on. Almost too much. There's a really rich sense of complexity in the plot as it's moving across the page. There are a lot of different scenes. A lot of different settings. A lot of different characters who are doing a lot of different things. It's just too much. It would be a lot more fun to see one or two elements from this series. Focused on. There just isn't enough time with any of the plots involved in the issue to really feels truly satisfying. They're just trying to do too much.
Henderson keeps up with the script quite well. There are a lot of nuances in the drama that assert themselves through the script. Those nuances are brought to the page with quite a bit of fidelity. There's an emotionally engaging aspect to what's going on. That feels like it's overcoming some of the silliness and absurdity inherent in the basic premise. All too often it's easy to lose track of the drama that drives this sort of space fantasy adventure. There's just so much else going on that needs to be rendered for the page. Henderson does a good job of maintaining a sharp focus on what needs to happen in order for the story to get told.
Having too much story to tell in this particular instance is perfectly fine. None of it seems to be dragging at all. It's all genuinely quite interesting. The way the writing team brings it to the art team. The way the art team brings it to the page. It all seems really interesting. But it really seems to be a situation where the plots being rendered would probably be a lot more comfortable under different covers. There are two main stories getting addressed in the issue. Each one of them could have their own title.
