Starve #4

By Brian Wood, Danijel Zezelj, Dave Stewart, and Steve Wands

This dangerously delicious comic from Brian Wood and Danijel Zezelj continues with another episode of Starve and, just the like the comic itself, the challenges reach a new level of animosity. Gavin, along with his daughter, charmed audiences and won the third round. Now, his ex-wife takes an active role in the show’s structure and teams with Roman to take Cruikshank down completely. Gavin makes a decision from the heart, which may be his true downfall…

Now that the characters have been established and readers are familiar with their quirks, Wood is able to really delve into the narrative. He takes the story into a deeper, grittier direction that in retrospect is absolutely logical, considering what this book is about. His social commentary continues to be more subversive, allowing for the actual plot to take front and center stage. It’s very impressive how Wood is able to maintain that balance from issue to issue. This is also the first multi-parter, so it will be very interesting to see how the story flows between issues. There’s little doubt it will be well executed.

Color is such a powerful tool in this comic. Paying attention to Dave Stewart is just as important as Zezelj’s pencils and designs. Definitely pay attention to Angie and how she is being presented. There is some action in this book and these two artists depict the sequence with a ton of intensity to it. Again, it’s due to the symbiosis of the different color used and how the movement/rough nature is rendered. It is only a page, but it stands out, as the scene should. These men are an acquired taste, but they absolutely make this series come to gorgeous life.

Well, this is part one, so readers better expect a heavy cliffhanger. Starve is definitely an oddity amongst Image’s titles, but it’s a fascinatingly well-done one. It’s only four issues in, so it will be very easy to fall down this rabbit hole. The time is totally worth digesting this delicacy.