Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Broken Pieces #2

I have to admit that I'm a sucker for post-Armageddon stories - and that's what you get in spades in the comic Broken Pieces.

As the story spools out, writer Mark Roslan is a bit vague when it comes to describing just what has devastated humanity (big revelations are in the offing). At some point, some kind of particularly nasty contagion started affecting people - destroying their internal organs.

Quarentine areas have been established, but society is breaking down as people get more desperate to reach safety - or find a cure.

Into the mix we throw a scientist who's fighting to find a way to heal all injuries. She may have succeeded, but she also may have created a monster.

One of her test subjects has pulled a Wolverine - he has recovered from horrible injuries, broken free of the lab and made his way to the outside world - but the corporation funding the research isn't going to let him go without a fight.

So it's an intelligent, dark tale that bounces cleverly back and forth between the scientific efforts in the lab (and the politics threatening the efforts) and the brutal fight for existence in a dangerous world.

The art is by Micah Kaneshiro, and it's quite good - he has a spare, expressive style that bounces effortlessly between the stark lab sequences and the devastated desert regions. He's very good at creating distinct characters, too - a bit of a trick when there are no super-costumes in evidence.

So this series is off to a good start - it's intelligent, well-crafted and moving in unexpected directions. I'm anxious to see where it goes from here!

Grade: B+

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