Comics
Review: “Translucid” #4
“Translucid” #4 tones it down this week in a slower, more existential issue, letting us get more intimate with Cornelius/Navigator and how he deals with the loss of life under very different circumstances. At this point, its been pretty well established that Cornelius and The Navigator are one and the same. Cornelius’s story chronicles his journey to become the super hero, The Navigator, while Navigator’s seems to chronicle his fall from grace into darkness.
WRITTEN BY: Claudio Sanchez & Chondra Echert
ART BY: Daniel Bayliss
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: July 16, 2014
Reviewed By Torbin Chimners
Cornelius continues to deal with his troubles in a vivid fantasy dream world apart from reality, gaining closure in the way only a child can. With the way his home life is progressing further into decay, how can you blame him? The loss of his brother, who was his abusive fathers favorite son, has brought a tremendous amount of blame down on poor Cornelius. His father hated him before and now he’s twisted the tragic loss into another reason to belittle and neglect his remaining son. Cornelius’s meek mother, unable to cope with Drake’s passing is also taking her grief out on him. Things are looking grim; this is the kind of foundation that can build a hero, super or not.
In contrast to having a life taken away, The Navigator is dealing with the fact that he took an innocent life. It my have been a mistake, an accident, but that does not lessen the action. All life should be sacred to a super hero; if it’s not, then they’re no hero. Navigator speaks aloud to himself, trying to work his way through what has occurred and if he even deserves or wants to be a hero anymore. It’s another awesome example of the originality of this book. You rarely, if ever, see someone like Batman or Spider-Man sit down and try to talk themselves through a terrible mistake. They swing around a city all majestic and broody with an inner monologue that only we see.
The Cornelius/Navigator dominated issue of Translucid this month took its time and it really paid off in spades. The Navigator section of this issue was the definite highlight, his existential crisis and incredibly human response to failure were expertly handled. Super heroes all too often feel like enormous figures, almost godlike, but in most cases they are still just people, human beings like you and me. The Navigator is an incredibly flawed and sympathetic character who I can’t help but be astonished by. I can’t wait to see what next months penultimate issue holds.
Torbin Chimners AKA Torin Chambers is a rad dude from the nineties who does film stuff or something. Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite transformer. Find him on Twitter@Vulgar_Rhombus
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
You must be logged in to post a comment.