Advance Review: Small Talk Is Big In `W0rldTr33’ #2

After launching his new series, W0rldtr33, out of a cannon in its premiere issue, writer James Tynion IV takes a more nuanced approach with his follow-up chapter.

W0rldtr33 #1 featured the death of scores of people thanks to a malicious and mysterious computer phenomenon called the undernet. It infected a young man who went on a killing spree. In the story’s second chapter, we’re left to deal with the fallout of that catastrophe. But Tynion takes a radically different approach this time.

Sure, the character called Ph34r – who appears as a naked woman that is either the personification of the undernet or who does its bidding – is stalking a reporter. And FBI agents and hackers are trying to get to the bottom of the killings.

But Tynion spends most of his efforts for this issue on small talk. It may not seem like an overly exciting choice, but it is an interesting one – if not sometimes confusing. Multiple times in the issue, readers get to eavesdrop on slice of life conversation between two characters, and often the topic turns to sex. For example, one FBI agent is complaining to another about a massage parlor that will only treat him to a single “happy ending.” Another woman talks to her business partner about how sex is fine, but she really just wants to cuddle naked in bed.

It’s an interesting, and hardly intuitive, choice. But it does make these characters more real. Tynion has been known to delay the action in his other books, such as Something Is Killing the Children, leaving the reader feeling unfulfilled. But that was after establishing that series as a hit. W0rldtr33 had a great first issue, but it’s not a modern classic – at least not yet. So this approach represents a real change in storytelling. Whether it works or not will depend of future execution.

Despite the lack of action, artist Fernando Blanco does a nice job of varying his illustrations. And he doesn’t do himself many favors with a few 12-panel pages with lots of dialogue. An ongoing scene with Ph34r and the reporter delivers plenty of tension. Meanwhile colorist Jordie Bellaire uses mainly monochromatic tones to keep the focus on the dialogue.

W0rldtr33 will need more than small talk to make it a success, but this dramatic shift so early in the series is unexpected yet welcome. Let’s see what surprises Tynion and team have in store for the future.

W0rldTr33 #2 will be available for purchase on Wednesday.