Advance Review: Lemire And Nguyen Partner Again In ‘Crowbound’ #1
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
This new series from the familiar creative teams offers up lots of questions, but doesn’t provide many answers. That’s fine for now, but the story will need some basic exposition quickly if it’s to grab readers like the creators’ other joint projects.
Overall
8.5/10It’s a brave thing to start off a new series with the apparent death of the main character. But creators Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen have never been ones to take the easy path.
From Descender and its sequel Ascender to Robin & Batman to Little Monsters, Lemire and Nguyen have teamed up to create some memorable series. The pair have now reteamed to create Crowbound, a new series from Image Comics.
When we first meet Rose Lee, she is suffering from a slashed throat — oddly at peace as she thinks about her daughter Ava. As she falls to the ground, Rose flashes back to earlier in the day.
She remembers reporting to work at the Factory, pulling levers and pushing buttons without understanding exactly the purpose she serves. She knows only that the Factory powers the Wall, and the Wall keeps out the Eater. She dropped Ava off at school, but the girl is sent to a camp where she will be expected to provide “special service.” As Rose tries to rescue her daughter, she is mortally wounded.
Writer Lemire paints a picture of a bleak totalitarian society. But he shies away from answering many questions readers will have about this world, what is happening in it, and why. Lemire is an expert storyteller, so readers know to put their trust in him. The answers will come, but they will be at the time and place of Lemire’s choosing.
Nguyen, who illustrates, gives us a dark world largely devoid of color. It’s only in flashbacks to Rose’s childhood as she’s running through the fields, do we see any brightness — aside from the occasional crimson blood.
It’s exciting to have these two partner together again. But if this series to be successful and run as long as some of their other endeavors, they’ll need to drop a few more crumbs for readers to munch on. Bravery and ambiguity only last for so long.
Crowbound #1 — written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, and lettered by Steve Wands — will be available in comic book stories and on digital platforms on September 2nd from Image Comics.
