Broken Frontier

Aspen Matthew enjoys some deserved R & R but forces are moving and gathering and peace may prove a fragile dream.

Artist and creator Michael Turner left an indelible stamp on the comic book world before his untimely passing this summer. Even though he is gone, his characters continue on and one of his creations gets a new life here with a third volume.

In the aftermath of the battles and losses for both the people of the Blue and the U.S. Government there is a delicate truce. Meanwhile, Aspen Matthew pines for the normal life she lost upon discovery of her true nature. Not fitting in with the Blue and wanted by the government in America she spends time with her lover, Chase, in Mexico. She should cherish these moments of rest, though, because the villain Killian has rebuilt himself and his forces and is ready to attack the surface world. Elsewhere the dark forces of the Black are making their own inroads.

One complaint right off the bat here is that whoever designed the story-so-far recap page on the inside of the cover needs to go back to the drawing board. The print is far too tiny and I was tempted to go buy a magnifying glass just to help decipher it. The comic gets better from there – but not a whole lot. Writer J.T. Krul certainly does a yeoman’s job of bringing new readers up to speed and devoting face time to over half a dozen characters. It is not easy creating scenes and dialogue that will allow readers to get a quick feel for what a character is about as well as advancing the overall plot but Krul does a solid job. The villain is suitably villainous and the U.S. Government is shadowy and secretive. In short, there are a lot of tropes here and not one of them ever seems to quite rise about that cliché level.

The art here is handled by veteran Alé Garza. His style is smooth and a bit heavy on the cheesecake – although at least he throws in some beefcake for counterbalance. In a couple of places his detail work, however, is hampered by the dark coloring of John Starr. If there is one complaint against Garza’s work here is that several pages consist of splash panels of the characters in artificial, static poses. There is no sense of movement and all of those panels feel as natural as a magazine spread for Abercrombie and Fitch.

Those who have been following Aspen’s exploits from the start will probably welcome the new series with open arms. New readers, however, might want to check out the previous two volumes before attempting to dive into the deep end here. There is little in this issue, though, that grabs you by the throat and keeps you turning pages until the end. As the series rolls on it may sweep readers away on a pulse-pounding tsunami but for now Fathom is more like the wave pool at your local water park.