Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: Ernest Hemingway, a guy named Jude and a bull dog walk into a cave…I don’t think anyone can ever claim to have thought of what goes down in “The Life After” #3 except for the brilliant creators behind it. This is downright unbridled imagination at its best.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Hale Fialkov
ART and COLORING BY: Gabo
PUBLISHER: Oni Press, Inc.
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: 17 September 2014
Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady
Twitter: @mrbradysteele
“The complete history of creation in three pages!” promised by Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov at the end of last issue is not what anyone would expect. There’s still grandeur to the birth of everything. There are also some humbling human revelations as to how pillars of our society came about. The reality of how reality works is brought to the forefront here and it’s not as grandiose as other creation stories have made it out to be. I think that’s what makes this story work so well. Fialkov has somehow merged two worlds together: the mundane running of a company and the reality of how the afterlife operates. It’s fascinating reading to say the least.
The art’s none too shabby either for a book about suicides and purgatory and angels and demons. Artist Gabo has enough creative designs going so far that readers can be diverted from the real powerful moments when they happen in the story. Angels are not as comforting as you’d think. Heaven and Hell aren’t as majestic or as scary as some imagine. All that and the infinite number buried to suffer for eternity. There is some heavy stuff going on here and its gripping visuals help propel things ever forward.
It’s only been three issues so far of The Life After and I know there’s so much more to see. Fialkov and Gabo seem to be on track to give us just enough to intrigue readers for what is happening and what is come. All of this plus monthly doses of Hemingway for good measure! I know Fialkov has dabbled in mainstream work for both Marvel and DC. I’m curious how he’s done working for such big publishers. I will definitely start hunting his other stuff down now that I know what he’s capable of unrestricted.