By Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, & Jordie Bellaire
(Check out our interview with the great Declan Shalvey right here!)
The brilliant creative team behind the most recent re-launch of Moon Knight, Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire, come together once again to deliver this new creator-owned title. The book opens in an institution, focusing on a brilliantly colored strawberry blonde by the name of Maria Killbride (what an awesome name!). She meets with a member of a company, whom she seems to have been affiliated with at some point. They contract her for a mission. From there, the book flashbacks to a group she worked with and led, the Cultural Cross-Contamination Unit. Who are these people? What do they do? What is their role in the present? What is the injection? There are so many questions set up and the plot looks to be dense and convoluted. Time to fall down the rabbit-hole!
A lot of thriller tropes are present, such as a mysterious organization, characters with secrets and connected pasts, and of course a big mcguffin (or two). Ellis makes excellent use of them all, despite the powerful intrigue, readers can easily become lost. This is a comic that will force one to become an active participant in the material, which is fantastic. This issue plays out the exposition as it should, but there is just some intangible element that elevates it, can’t quite put my finger on it just yet. One more mystery to add to the Injection pile.
The shadows and darkness cast not only by the writing, but artwork as well draws readers in. Ominous colors really help in thrillers and science-fiction titles and Bellaire nails it. He allows the expressive close-ups of Shalvey’s work to really stand out and capture the eye. Also, the panel structure is very simplistic with either three or four panels per page, except for one. The landscape perspective presents more detail and sets up amazing backgrounds. It will definitely be interesting to see if the layout design changes. The massive panel on the last page is perhaps the most shocking and stunning art in the whole book. What a way to end things…
Injection lived up to expectations, but also confused the heck out of me at some points. If a comic has one’s mind racing for hours after reading it, that’s definitely a good sign. People who loved this group’s work on Moon Knight, liked the shows Fringe or The X-Files, or love science-fiction/thriller comics something tells me this title is for you.
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