ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #8 (image comics)

Wally is a homeless man who is living in the gutter. But it wasn’t always that way, and he wants to set the record straight and ensure that we know his story. Can you see him?

Assorted Crisis Events #8 - Written By Deniz Camp – Art By Eric Zawadzki - Colors By Jordie Belaire - Letters By Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou - Published By Image Comics

Credit: Image Comics

*** POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING ***

STORY OVERVIEW:

We meet Wally who is convinced people can’t see him. He is homeless and very much in the bottle self-medicating himself. He then takes us on a journey showing how he got to where he is today. He worked as an ad artist, but it was always his dream to be a comic book artist. When he finally gets his dream job, it’s not all that he hoped it would be. For starters he is not drawing a superhero comic, but rather a romance one. Not having any experience in the real world with romance, Wally just does the bare minimum. But as the series was about to be canceled and Wally was not caring, he starts to draw his miserable existence into the book. This makes the book take off at the shops and the series being renewed. In the meantime, Wally falls in love in real life and this affects his sullen art in the series. At first, the readers love the new direction, but over time they hate it, and Wally is back to drinking his problems away. But Wally isn’t ready for how low his life can truly go.

WRITING:

Assorted Crisis Events #8 tells a real sad tale that is sure to hit home with a lot of readers. Deniz Camp does an awesome job of really diving into the despair of Wally. Showing how Wally spirals out of control, to then regain control and gain success, only to spiral and lose it all is some really deep storytelling. Camp explores what makes Wally hopeless and how his problems all spurn from focusing on the wrong thing. Tying it back to the message that is geared towards the reader which is to not distract yourself with trivial things when love is the answer. Message and story wise, this issue is one of the most relatable ones in the whole series and is sure to speak to all of those who read it.

ARTWORK:

The art in this issue is creative and takes a lot of big chances that really pay off. Eric Zawadzki’s choice to not follow the classic panel format and instead making a lot of the art in big open spaces really enhances the story. As Wally’s life unravels and he is spinning out of control the art follows less of the classical rules. Zawadzki uses the full page to really bring the reader in and allow them to feel what Wally is going through page to page.

Due to the unconventional nature of the setup for the art, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou gets very creative with the lettering. Otsmane-Elhaou does a fantastic job of making the words on the page easy to follow even without the border restrictions. Not to be outdone, Jordie Belaire does a wonderful job with the colors. Changing color style, including only coloring parts of the illustrations, help the reader to visually see how much of Wally’s world is truly a mess.

check out my review of assorted crisis events #7

Final Thoughts:

Assorted Crisis Events #8 gets more serious than what we are more accustomed to in this series. Don’t get me wrong, every issue has a message, but usually it’s delivered with a little more of a tongue in cheek style. This issue abandons that and puts the message front and center with an overall depressing feeling with said message. With that being said, this is the most relatable of all the messages thus far. This issue is another great installment in this amazing series. Make sure to grab a copy when you visit the shop this week and then prepare to have a good deep thought about what you read after.

FINAL GRADE: 8.7/10

Let me know your thoughts on Assorted Crisis Events #8 in the comments below. Thanks for reading!