#ANIMOSITY 1 SERIES#

Though I can’t ignore the places where content is light, this issue has more than enough emotion and care to make a fantastic short story and plenty of potential to launch us forward. Luckily for the fledgling series, Sandor is heartbreakingly sincere. You can feel Bennett’s need to hit all of her story beats wrestling with her desire to put flesh on the bones a little bit. Though the plot stays engaging throughout, the action is a little rushed and simple towards the end.

#ANIMOSITY 1 SERIES#

That’s not to say that there aren’t some solid moments, there’s some wonderful appeals to archetypes in the issue’s climactic staredown, but there is no denying that, at this stage, Animosity has given a lot more support to the ongoing series than this individual issue. Bennett, rather pointedly, DOESNT explain, doesn’t elaborate on the connection between these two, letting actions and the depth and sincerity when Sandor tells Jesse that he loves her carry the issue. Enter Jesse and Sandor.Ī boy and his dog is one of the simplest and most accepted cores that a story can be built around, especially to the Spielberg generation, but it’s rare that a story opens a window to that core so quickly or completely, not to mention as earnestly in a limited space, as this.

It not only forces us to wrestle, however briefly, with the unknown but establishes how small we are, how utterly surrounded humanity is, and how global this story could be.īut a high concept and some genuine laughs won’t sustain a series. From an iguana’s honesty to a polar bear’s reflections to pandas’ thoughts on conservation, the absurdism of the situation is milked for all its worth with an incredibly dry, matter of fact delivery that not only forces you to accept it but supports those reactions that are more horror than comedy.īennett and de Latorre use the physical limitations of comics to fantastic effect in these pages, communicating time, scale, and surprise through a clever series of compositions. What does it mean, I can’t help but wonder, to take revenge on the humans’ mistreatment with a bleeding carcass between your jaws? It’s not clear how deep the series will dive into such issues, but the setup we’re given here offers plentiful food for thought, even if you’ll have to hunt some of it.Īnd while this series could have read like some bizarre treatise on veganism or thoughtless revenge horror, Bennett makes it clear how she’s approaching this series, “We all make our peace,” a carnivorous vet says with a smile, “I’m not preaching.” The only problem is that the 99% of species have decided to make their peace in the fashion of Robespierre.īut while Bennett is as literate as ever, it’s humor that makes these early pages truly delightful. The animals clearly remember the time before but Bennett establishes, quite viscerally, that there HAS been a seismic shift in their awareness. Though it seems like she’s being glib, this section is essential, establishing not only tone, but the rules of this brave new world. It’s the kind of revolution that bearded Marxists only dream of and humanity is truly and horrifically outnumbered.īennett spends about half of this opening issue introducing us to the concept of ‘The Wake’ in a characteristically clever manner. What’s new, however, is the heart and humor Marguerite Bennett and Rafael De Latorre find in their apocalypse narrative.Īnimosity wonders: what if all the animals just ‘woke up’ one day? Suddenly gifted with sentience, our animal brethren discover that they’re not too keen on how we’ve treated them. From its simple what-if concept to its small scope and survival-level goals, Animosity recalls Y: The Last Man, The Walking Dead, and countless others.

The familiar is the format, a standard of modern indie comics. There’s something fresh and yet undeniably familiar about Aftershock’s Animosity.

Animosity 1