The Living Death comic was going to be amazing. A captivating story with beautiful graphics is a recipe for success. But is the plot the same as Alberto Varanda's?
The octopus mutants are attacking
Humanity left Earth and settled on Mars. From now on, only small groups of smugglers go to the abandoned planet in search of priceless items. The department that works for Martha extracts valuable books from the flooded complex. By an unfortunate twist of fate, one day the woman’s daughter falls to the bottom of this facility. The dead, broken body is returned to the mother by the octopus mutants (created by humans to do thankless work on the seabed). The action then shifts to Mars to show the fate of Joachim, a distinguished scientist who is brought to Earth to bring a dead girl back to life.
The dark side of science
Olivier Vatine had a pretty interesting idea. The envelope itself is intriguing: abandoned, destroyed Earth and the incredibly technologically advanced Mars. I also like the mutant octopus plot. Although it is somewhat secondary, it nevertheless adds color to the story. The main plot, more or less until the end of the fourth chapter, can delight. Just like all the elements that appear in it, e.g. the castle where Martha lives or the cyborg Ugo. The theme of bringing Lisa back to life is also great. Unfortunately, with the beginning of the fifth chapter, everything starts to fall apart. The beginning promised something special, but unfortunately it turned out to be mediocre. I have the impression that from the fifth part, the author, instead of trying to create a climate and tension, is simply rushing at breakneck speed. Detriment.
Mosaic beauty
Alberto Varanda did a great job. Drawings are in a class of their own. It is worth stopping for a moment and taking a look at the numerous photos. They are all unusual, especially places such as a castle. In addition, the beauty of precipitation was perfectly shown.
As for the edition, I came across two typos. The size of this item is also noteworthy and in my opinion it would be better if a smaller format was chosen. I also have reservations about the announcement that can be found on the cover of the comic, it reads as follows: “A young scientist […] is to bring her daughter to life. But he does not return the life of Death with impunity “and further:” Will the biologist Joachim manage to bring Lise back to life, risking waking up a living death …? ” Honestly, I feel a bit cheated. In my opinion, this description does not match the story told in the comic. While the revival theme is fine, the rest of the sentence foreshadows the original, moody, mysterious, unusual ending, not what we get in Chapter 5.
Is it possible to win with death?
I will not hide that when I saw the cover, I expected something completely different. While the first four chapters aroused my appetite, the last one disappointed me. The world presented is interesting, the graphics are delightful, but still, it’s a bit too little. Of the heroes, I like the cyborg the most, and the other characters lack potential. If the comic were longer, even by ten pages, perhaps the ending of the story would be less disappointing. However, if the plot is not the most important for someone and he is not disturbed by the repetition of threads, and above all appreciates original graphic solutions, he should be interested in this item.
