COMIC REVIEW: FTN reviews The Wake #7

Written by Scott Snyder

Art by Sean G. Murphy

Colors by Matt Hollingsworth

Published by Vertigo Comics

The Wake has been chalked full of twists and turns of horror and action all leading towards something bigger. In issue #6 Leeward heard something that she’s been searching her whole life for; a radio transmission from Dr. Lee Archer. You might know her from the first half of the series. Now Leeward is trapped aboard some sort of transport ship as a prisoner forced to row wherever her drivers tell her to. Not to worry thought, Leeward has a plan to escapes, but will she have the chance?

I absolutely love the tone that Scott Snyder has set for the second half of this series. The main gripe I heard with volume 1 was that there were way too many horror clichés and it made the book predictable. (I wasn’t one of those people; I’ve loved this book since issue #1!) He’s completely proven those naysayers wrong with the start of volume 2. What started as a horror book has become so much more. Snyder has layered in a level of intrigue on top of the sense of dread you get by just looking at the water wondering when and where the lurking Mers will strike because you don’t quite know what’s happening still. There’s definitely some sort of government conspiracy happening but we still don’t know who exactly is responsible. It’s absolutely captivating and a real testament to Scott Snyder’s talent as a writer. Between The Wake, the re-emergence of American Vampire, his new series Wytches, and of course his critically acclaimed run on Batman, I think 2014 is going to be the year of Scott Snyder and deservedly so.

As much credit as I give Snyder in writing this phenomenal series, I don’t think it would work as well as it does without Sean Murphy’s art and Matt Hollingsworth’s work on colors. Murphy’s unique line work and sense of scale really compliment the tone of the series wonderfully. There’s a page showing a gigantic Mer tearing a cruise ship to pieces that was so stunning it literally took my breath away.

I have to make special mention of Matt Hollingsworth’s work on colors. Usually we overlook that particular job because in our medium, the pencilist/inker and the writer seem to get all the shine for their work on a book. With the total change in tone of volume 2 Hollingsworth had the daunting task of totally changing the color pallet of the series all while trying to convey the dark tone that the first half set so well. Not only did he manage to do it, he knocked it completely out of the park. The color pallet in volume 2 reminds me of a day at the beach, all while still reminding us how horrifyingly dark this story is.

This creative team is firing on all cylinders and I’d love to see them continue to work together after The Wake wraps up its last three issues. With the introduction of the character in Leeward, there’s a real sense of adventure to this book that you don’t often see in the horror genre, comics or otherwise. I really love this title and I think everyone should give it a shot because it’s a book that epitomizes the resurgence of Vertigo as a comic book powerhouse!

5 out of 5 nerds