I only have an inkling of what occurred before this issue, what seems to be a continuing story beginning its next chapter. I will say it takes a certain dedication to want to bring someone back from Hell to make sure they are punished by your hands.
Two stories unfold in Alabaster: The Good, the Bad and the Bird, a poetic journey through a personal hell as our dead anti-hero is left to ponder humanity, the dark recesses of who people are through the prism of her own mistakes. And, a pair of idiosyncratic killers who are seeking her out.
Beyond this, I know not what is going on – only hints and possibilities. I’ll have to read any previous collection as I go forward.
I will say Caitlin R. Kiernan, a well-known novelist and comic book writer, creates a dream-like state with artist Daniel Warren Johnson. Leaps in time and space move forward with fluidity, never clinging onto exposition or banality, revealing things to us while leaving enough questions to push us forward to the next line wanting answers. Kiernan takes us to the meat from the first line written.
Not only is Johnson’s art captivating, the cover is sensuous, thanks to Greg Ruth.
There is a strong vision in this first issue being presented. I don’t know the depths to which it will go or where it has come from, but I’m curious to find out.
*Be sure to pre-order Issue #1 with your local comic book shop today! The comic will be released on December 9, 2015.
