Mind the Gap #16 – Review

By: Jim McCann (story), Rodin Esquejo (art), Jessica Kholinne (colors)

The Story: Elle finds companionship, even after death.

The Review: The last few issues of Mind the Gap were fairly breakneck, compared to the stately pace of its early months, and after that final, game-changing cliffhanger, perhaps we needed a couple months to absorb it all.  Well, we got it; it has been almost exactly two months since we saw Elle’s spirit diving into the unknown and her body stolen.  So refreshed, it’s time to evaluate where the game of Elle stands now, who the players are, and what the end prize is going to be.

McCann answers at least one of those questions directly, almost a little too pointedly, with his opening splash of the cast gathered around Elle’s empty casket at her shotgun funeral.  The arrangement of the characters is not lost on Detective Antoinette Wallace: “Two motley assorted groups, friends and other emotional rabble [on one side]…and an oddly cold and guarded family and their associates on the other?”  But these alliances and oppositions are old news to us; it’s the new players that really interest us.

I had naturally assumed that the Hoodie gang had spirited away Elle’s body at the end of last issue, but here I’m proven mistaken.  That a third party unrelated to either of our primary groups has taken Elle opens up the story from family drama to full-blown conspiracy, which is why it’s so surprising that McCann reverses course from his previous whodunit work and reveals our mystery kidnapper right off the bat.  And it’s a doozie.

Learning that there’s another “daughter of Jairus” casts Erik’s whole project in another, even more sinister light.  What little sympathy he had before came from the assumption that at the same time he was pursuing his own ambition of defeating death, he was also trying to help his family, or at least Min’s inability to bear a child.  Elle was portrayed as an unexpected first success of his experiments.  That all goes out the window, now.  It’s possible Erik had no idea he ever succeeded in his efforts before; he seems clueless as to who could have taken Elle.  But that doesn’t mean this other Jairus daughter doesn’t have reason to resent him, otherwise why toy with Erik and Elle’s parents via phone-sent visuals?

And this daughter isn’t working alone either.  During her body-snatching caper, she receives a text from an unknown contact, asking, “Do you have her?”  Perhaps it’s yet another Jairus daughter, but my money is on Frankie.  Of all the characters, he has the most indirect emotional connection to Elle, so his motivation in the group is least explained.  It’s also suspicious how intent he is on ingratiating himself with others, first becoming Dr. Gina Gellar’s wingman, then consoling Jo, now buddying up to Miles.  Anyway, how else do you explain Elle’s kidnapper managing to sneak through the hospital with surgeon’s gear, figure out how to disable the security cameras, and jack an ambulance, unless she had help from the inside.  Perhaps most damning of all is the deliberate cut from Erik’s threat of destroying whoever sent him Elle’s photo to Frankie knocking on Gina’s door.

It’s good to have Esquejo back.  He’s the kind of reliable visual storyteller every comic book writer should be so lucky to have.  Esquejo doesn’t depend on radical stylistic experiments to get the job done; he simply makes smart choices to make every scene as effective as possible (see the aforementioned casket scene and the cut from Erik to Frankie).  Most importantly, Esquejo has an absolute command of body language and facial expression to convey each character’s momentary emotions and overall personality.  Look at Constance’s reaction to Antoinette’s suggestion that she and Hammond may have some sort of special relationship.  Constance adopts an overtly cutesy demeanor that reeks of insincerity, indicates her slight nervousness and attempts to disguise it, and fits into her generally coquettish behavior.  Not every artist can manage that kind multitasking in a single image.

Conclusion: The issue reiterates a lot of familiar points, but expands its scope in several significant ways.  Way to hit the ground running.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Love the “Nerd herd” reference.  I miss Chuck, too, McCann.

– Antoinette may be my new favorite character on this series, by the way.  Just love that perfect blend of take-no-crap sensibility and understated compassion.