The Wake #8 Review

Title:	The Wake
Contributors:	Scott Snyder Sean Murphy
Publisher:	Vertigo
Issue #:	8
Year:	2014
Pages:	32 Pages
Age Rating:	13+ (Violence)
Story Grade:	C+
Art Grade:	A

The Wake Issue #8 continues it's run towards the goal, but what that goal may be is anyone's guess right now. Like the rest of the series, it is a series of constant twists, turns, and corkscrews that can leave readers scratching their heads or simply asking "WTF?". But I hear rumor that all questions will be answered by the end of the series. That leaves two issue remaining to answer those burning questions.

This story as a whole is just so compressed, I feel like I'm being whisked through it like cattle through a branding station. I'm curious enough to want to know what is inside the cramped little space, but when I finally get in there, it is claustrophobic and I feel burned when I leave.

After talking with my LCS about the comic, and my ongoing issues with the hurried style, he said that he believed that he and I were the only ones still ordering it month to month. So my dissatisfaction with the series doesn't seem to out of place.

All in all it is a great story with huge potential, but I think the compression of the story into a short ten book mini-series is hurting the story a lot in this case because so little time can be given to developing a reader's understanding of the various worlds we are being introduced to. We simply have to accept things at face value, and if you want to know more, too bad. Additionally every issue introduces a character or two and no real time is being given to develop these characters for the readers.

It makes me sad, because a year ago, I had high hopes for this series and for me after Issue #5 it has been downhill since.

The artwork remains top notch. The details in the inks are as great as ever and coloring process used is a great match for the story.

All in all I grade this book a B. The story gets a C+, but the art is top notch.

Until next time... here's to believing "Clarity isn't everything."