Broken Frontier

Joshua Hagler’s opus continues with a look at some of the townspeople who will invariably be affected by the ominous silence.

After first detailing the accident which caused Nester to lose his hearing in the last issue, this issue takes the time to flesh out some of the other characters who live in his town. Starting with a family pulling up to a drive thru window, we follow around and meet a wide range of individuals. First the husband who can’t stand when his wife breast feeds the baby in public, onto the teenage boy tellers at the fast food place who give them their food, through to the old lady in the restaurant who mixes up her dead husband for the one still living; it becomes fairly obvious that this town is filled with interesting people. And let’s not forget Nester himself, who makes an interesting discovery of his own at the end of the book.

Let’s get this one thing out of the way quickly—Joshua Hagler is one of the most talented artists to come along in a very long time. Imagine taking David Mack, Ben Templesmith, Ashley Wood, and Sam Kieth and putting them in a blender. The result would be Joshua Hagler. He can start off with simple panel design and then go to a straight collage. His work breathes mood into every single page. He blends deftly from straight pencils, to inks, and onto colors to the full and necessary effect. Realistically, I could have 10 pages to talk about his artwork and still not fully express how impressive it is. Yes, it is unorthodox at times, and with no superheroes to speak of (at least not yet, who knows what Hagler has planned) will not appeal to everyone (and assuredly confuse some as well), but for those interested in the art form and how certain people are advancing it, Hagler’s work is not to be missed.

In terms of writing and structure Hagler does some wonderful things here as well. He transitions through characters and scenes carefully and effectively, so that none of those introduced overshadow any others. His dialogue is authentic and gets right to the heart of who these characters are without being too talky. And thankfully, the odd lettering font used in issue 1 has been corrected. If anyone has any doubts as to how a proper font can truly accentuate a comic, just compare issues 1 and 2 of this book. The only problem that may arise in the storytelling is that there is a jump between issue 1 and 2 in terms of who is highlighted. #1 dealt strictly with main character Nester, while #2 opens up with completely new characters. And especially with the way it transitions through the new characters, it can be a little confusing as to whom the book is actually about. Admittedly, this confusion can also be because of the slight delay in release time between the first two issues and assuredly reads much better if the books are read back to back.

For anyone who loves the art form and wants to see the new and exciting creators who are coming through and advancing it, The Boy Who Made Silence is going to be required reading.

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The Boy Who Made Silence can be ordered at www.markosia.co.uk/Comics.aspx?ID=9 and through Diamond Retailers. More information on Joshua Hagler can be found at www.joshuahagler.com