Manifest Destiny #14

By Chris Dingess, Matthew Roberts, and Owen Gieni

Manifest Destiny is at its best when it is mixing history, Americana, and the supernatural. This issue takes a bit of a step away from the history, but does a great job leading us into a new story with new supernatural creatures adding to the excitement. New creatures are definitely a highlight both artistically and story-wise in this series, so that alone makes this a great issue to pick up.

Matthew Roberts and Owen Gieni continue to show how great they are at drawing and coloring comics in Manifest Destiny. The backgrounds are spectacular, the creature design is stunning, and they never shy away from drawing great infected wound shots. They also do an amazing job capturing animal emotions in this issue as our crew ends up finding something to study up close and personal. The art is always fantastic in this series and is a big reason why Manifest Destiny is a must-buy from Image Comics. Even the dialogue scenes are expertly crafted with angles that efficiently advance the story. Enough cannot be said about how well this issue is put together artistically to tell the story while also giving the reader some eye-candy in the form of grotesque injuries and great creature design.

Chris Dingess’ story for this issue wasn’t overly exciting, but every issue can’t be The Walking Dead #100. We learn a little about what’s troubling Sacagawea, have some action with creature struggles, and progress a little further with the mutiny rumblings that have been a constant on Lewis and Clark’s expedition. Nothing is resolved, but we do have a juicy, new unresolved plot point to hint at where we might be headed in the next few issues. Sacagawea, as always, knows more than she ever tells, and the crew is constantly in peril due to their surroundings. There is just enough going on in all of the little subplots to keep readers interested in what could happen next, especially when just about everything this crew encounters is an unknown.

Manifest Destiny is a great series and this issue is no exception. Skybound seemingly can’t miss with the comics they are currently producing. It’ll be exciting to see just where Dingess is intending to bring us in the next few issues as it seems the ideological splits are becoming larger within the crew and the danger is only becoming more prevalent the deeper into the wilderness that they go.