By: Jeff Lemire (writer & artist), Jose Villarrubia (colors), Carlos M. Mangual (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)
The Story: We return to the present day story of Sweet Tooth and learn some disturbing things about the refuge in the dam.
Five Things:
1. Nice to return to “normal” Sweet Tooth. – The just completed arc of Sweet Tooth was good as we flashed back in time and learned a kinda “origin” for the Sweet Tooth universe, but it’s nice to be back with Gus, Jepperd, Bobby and the other characters we’ve come to know and love over the last few years. Even as much as I enjoyed Matt Kindt’s art, it’s nice to get back to the one-man-band that is Jeff Lemire (although he DOES bring a colorist along in this issue).
2. Knew there was something fishy about that guy! – Didn’t that guy living in the dam just seem a little creepy? We knew something was off about him and now we know what it is. Even though it was pretty obvious that there would be something sinister about the guy, this is not what I thought would happen so kudos to Lemire. Lemire also does an excellent job on the reveal itself and working the reveal around the page turns and breaks in the action. Guess this dude was just waiting Jepperd to leave so he could make his move???
3. Nice mechanism for getting the gang back together. – I don’t know about you, but I didn’t love the idea of the group splitting up when Jepperd, Singh and Gus left the dam. I really liked the characters who were getting “left behind” and don’t know what I’d have done without getting a monthly fix of Bobby and his funny talk. My am not like it at all! So, the reveal of the bad guy is probably going to serve as a nice device to bring everyone back together and that’s a good thing because I think it would have damaged the storytelling to have this continue with a split narrative.
4. Creepy bird-hybrid. –Man, was that bird hybrid unnerving or what? I guess the first panel where it shows up makes it pretty clear that it is a hybrid since it has human-like legs, but at first I just thought it was a screwed-up looking bird. And that could’ve happened given that Lemire is hardly a realistic artist. But then you notice that the darn thing has EARS and it just kinda freaks you out. These hybrids are so sad and they pull at your heartstrings the same way a disabled child would in real life. You feel all kids of pity for the crappy lot they’ve gotten in life. And it makes it even sadder when you see the way some of the surviving humans have used and abused the hybrid kids. Ugh…
5. Moody art. – Again, as much as I loved Matt Kindt’s work on the last three issues, this is the Jeff Lemire show and it’s nice to have his art back. Somehow the book doesn’t seem quite right without the classic Lemire look that I first enjoyed on Essex County. His work is so not rooted in realism and it allows his characters to express a far greater range of emotions. But, what’s so cool about Lemire is that he’s doing a very different type of stylized characters than a Chris Bachalo or Humberto Ramos (two mainstream stylized artists). Lemire is embracing the grotesque nature of humans (rather than playing up the beauty) and it gives Sweet Tooth a perfectly creepy and morose vibe.
Conclusion: A nice return to normalcy for the series that also gets the story jump started in a big way.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
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