Flawless; Lemire prospects some gold
When we last left the Sweet Tooth saga, Gus and Jepperd were facing down a grizzly in the woods while the group of girls discovered a safe haven in the hell that is the post-plague America. Things might be looking up for the group of refugees; is it too good to be true?
The Good
The complete and utter lack of text in the Gus/Jepperd sequence was an amazing touch. Lemire blew me away with the amount of emotion he packed into a sequence of panels with no dialog whatsoever. This is the mark of true comics talent, and a great example of the power of the medium as a whole: if you think about it, the story didn't need text at all. Creative word balloons and trippy art conveyed the thoughts and feelings of the three characters involved (the human, the human hybrid and the animal) and brought them down to the same level. Instead of regarding the bear as a "villain", we got a chance to see what it was thinking in this situation, which added to the drama.
I like the way that the two stories were juxtaposed though panel layout: the textless story took up the top two thirds of the page while the dialog-heavy conversation took place on the bottom. It allowed us to experience both stories without breaking them up; that way, the emotion was kept all the way through. I gave a big ol' stupid grin at the end of the "bear" storyline due to the bond that's finally been reforged between Gus and Jeppard; after betrayal, introspection and mistrust, things seem to be on the right path again.
The Bad
There is little wrong with this issue. I honestly can't think of anything.
The Verdict
It's always a bit scary when things start going well for characters in comics. Moments of calm just make things all the more tense because you know things might get horrible at any time. However, this issue was a great capstone for a lot of plot points that needed resolution, and I'll accept that as awesome for now.
