Review: ‘White Sky’ #1 Starts Strong And Leaves Plenty Of Mysteries

There is a lot we don’t know after reading the premiere issue of White Sky.

The world — or at least the US — has been decimated by … something. A father and daughter (we don’t even learn dad’s name until the editorial at the back of the book) are being chased by … something. Violet, the daughter, is getting supernatural guidance from … something.

If White Sky sounds confusing, it’s meant to. Writer William Harms and illustrator J.P. Mavinga tight-fistedly drop some hints here and there, but there’s hardly a risk of too much exposition here.

Even the answers we get are shrouded in questions. When we see the mysterious stalkers who are chasing Violet and David, we really have no idea what they are. Zombies? Wraiths? Extraterrestrials? Future issues, hopefully, will inform us.

The good news is that the story is strong enough to keep us coming back for more. Mavinga’s sweeping illustrations of San Francisco Bay area clogged with broken-down cars, boats, and even a tank demonstrate exactly what’s going on. The team wisely lets these images tell the story instead of clumsy dialogue.

The dialogue there is tells a familiar story. Dad loves daughter. Daughter loves dad. But as Harms says in his closing editorial, there’s plenty of “sad dad” stories out there. White Sky will instead be Violet’s story. At least for now, readers should be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

First issues are tough to pull off. Give away too much, and readers will question why they should come back. Leave too much up in the air, and they may get confused or annoyed then give up. While this creative team errs on the side of under-exposing here, there’s plenty to keep us coming back for more.