EI8HT, Vol. 1: Outcast by Rafael AlbuquerqueMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I received an e-galley copy of this book via Edelweiss.
Holy shit this art is beautiful. The colors are stylized, with particular background colors and palettes connoting various places and times, but with beautiful pops of accent color and such depth of detail that it never feels monochrome in a boring way. The page layouts are also fantastic, the transition from wide/large panels to smaller ones conveying the tenuous nature of the Meld and its relationship to the timestreams that feed it.
The story stands its ground next to the gorgeous art, which is a relief. I read Trillium by Jeff Lemire a few months back and while it is also a gorgeously illustrated time-bending adventure romance, its story falls short of its lovely art and intriguing sci-fi premises. This is much more satisfying. Joshua, the main character, crash-lands in the Meld - a place outside of time where lost keys, missing persons, and erstwhile time-travelers end up. He intended to go back in time to kill a man who released a deadly toxin into his world - one that currently threatens his wife's life. Instead, he meets a woman who is part of a tribe that is also, coincidentally, under the thumb of a man who has released a deadly toxin into their world. We also meet an old scientist on a life-long quest to visit the Meld who may know something about the origin of this menace of a man. The stories are interconnected and I'm impressed at the complexity of their interactions. There's only one place where I feel the stories don't mesh the way they're intended (it's the line about following the dinosaur - I don't get why she would say that to him at that moment of his timeline, or whether we're supposed to assume that she was talking to him at two different points in his timeline and she knows that).
Potential spoiler alert: I also have a sneaking suspicion that the physical resemblance between the old man and Joshua is more than a coincidence - I like that while it's subtle, there are particular panels that seem to be made to emphasize that resemblance.
The character development is solid and we get to to see them grow - but thankfully, we don't get all of the answers by the end of the volume.
Overall, wonderful art, carefully created story, well-drawn characters. Would recommend.
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