RESONANT #1
Writer: David Andry
Artist: Alejandro Aragon
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: Vault Comics
Rating: 9/10
I have to be honest, I am not a huge fan of post apocalypse comics, they’re slow, and there’s always the notion that the main protagonist and their party will be okay if they just make it to “the promised land” and when they do and it’s not what they’d hoped (shocker) it sets the stage for the rest of the series to continue in the same loop and nothing is ever achieved except character development. I’m talking you Walking Dead. So yes, frankly, I’m tired of the unoriginal pace set by most forefathers of the genre. That being said, Resonant pleasantly surprised me. The art is a stunning reflection of the times that our characters are facing, it’s haunting with hues of red during the more violent moments. Alejandro Aragon does a great job of portraying desolation and beauty respectively, while keeping the tone at the center of each scene.
In the first act, we are introduced to our main character Paxton and his 3 children, as he is about to set off on a journey to find medicine for one of his sons. They already have a little slice of Heaven in a cabin deep in the woods. The oldest, a girl named Bec has one leg and was possibly crippled by the Waves. The Waves are a mysterious entity that infiltrated the minds of every human on Earth starting 10 years before our story takes place. Resonant in definition means “deep, clear, and continuing to sound or ring” “having the ability to evoke or suggest enduring images, memories, or emotions” and that is EXACTLY what the Waves do. They bring out the worst in people, making them commit extreme acts of violence to themselves and sometimes one another.
Seeing as Paxton is separated from the children fairly quickly in the first issue, so we don’t really get the pulse of the relationship that he has with them other than a normal loving father. When he does leave, Bec tries her best to keep her brothers safe from the outside world. They appear to have some sort of warning system for when the Waves are about to approach, and that is “Chirpers” which seem to be grasshoppers and they chirp quite loudly and violently when the Waves are about to start.
Seeing how each of our story leads react when the Waves come about is probably my favorite part of the first issue. One legged Bec straps down her brothers and tries to “center” herself as her father has been teaching her, but it doesn’t work and she starts to thrash and bang her head on the floor, almost gravely injuring herself. Her father however, has mastered the art of calming himself and clearing his mind of any stray thought so the waves cannot affect him. So in short, mastering meditation is the key to surviving the Waves but as we all know, that is a very difficult thing for a group of people, let alone the entire world. The thoughts I am left with in the end are 1. Where the hell are these Waves coming from? 2. Is there a way to stop them 3. Will Paxton find what he is looking for and return home without incident as he always does? Reading to find out the mystery of the waves alone is enough to keep me engaged.