Week of 5/8 Comics Reviews: Singularly Awesome
I know I tend to go quite a bit into the plot of the comics I review. I try to avoid spoilers, but you can usually find most of the beats of each book covered here. This week, I want to avoid that as much as possible. The One Hand is approaching the end game and it needs to be experienced and appreciated firsthand. The Singularity... well, I’ll talk about it as much as I can, but do yourself a favor and check it out.
The One Hand #4 written by Ram V with art by Laurence Campbell
The penultimate issue of this amazing neo-noir has arrived. Picking up immediately where the third issue left off, Ari confronts the potential “One Hand Killer” from the other side of a hospital wall. After a brief moment of contact, Ari is forced on the run as the police label him a potential suspect in his own case. As I mentioned earlier, I’m going to try dancing around spoilers when discussing this issue, but my reactions and thoughts will likely give an idea of what’s happened so be forewarned before you read on.
There are four conversations which make up the meat of the book. Ari has been pushed to his limit and the time is fast-approaching for him to decide his final course of action. He’s laying his cards on the table and saying the things that have been left unsaid over the course of the series. That isn’t to say the truth has been revealed, of course. Everything is merely being alluded to and it’s beginning to feel like existence itself is an allusion to something different and potentially far stranger. The discussions about memory and language are pure Ram V and I was loving every moment of it. They touch upon classical philosophical ideas, but manage to tie them into modern-day existential angst and then apply it to the story in a way that may not be so metaphorical. I don’t know how a writer manages that without needing a nap afterward. The conversation about language goes a bit further into the mystery of how there can be a lineage of One Hand Killers continuing their predecessors’ work without them ever having met each other. That conversation ends the book on a particularly haunting line, setting the stage for the finale and establishing a foe that Ari may be out of his depth facing.
If there was any question of The Six Fingers being an optional companion piece or vice-versa, this issue throws that possibility out the window. Johannes’ and Ari’s stories are two sides of the same coin and this issue is the möbius strip that brings those sides together. Many of the event of the third and possibly fourth issues of that series are referenced here and add context to just what it is that Ari is up against. The end is nigh and the stakes are both epic and deeply personal.
Laurence Campbell’s art is fantastic as always. Over the course of the series, we’ve seen the strange writing left behind by the killer appearing in shapes and forms in day-to-day life. Once again, there are some clever uses of those designs that hint at the possibility of another, much larger hand at play. The rate at which the symbols appear also seems to be increasing issue to issue, making it clear that no matter how solitary and self-motivated Ari may be, he is part of a much larger picture.
With one more issue of The One Hand and two more of The Six Fingers, the stakes are being raised while the mysteries deepen. Collision seems inevitable now and it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be around to pick up the pieces when it’s over. It goes without saying at this point, but I’ll say it anyway. The One Hand has consistently been one of the best books on the shelves since the beginning. This is absolutely not one to miss!
The Singularity written by Mat Groom and Bear McCreary
When discussing the “great” writers of comics, it’s easy to point out names like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Mike Mignola. Their books have had decades of critical and commercial success, been the subject of academic discussion, and inspired whole generations of writers and artists in any manner of medium. It’s easy to attribute greatness to works that have been out for decades (though all the mentioned writers are continuing to create truly amazing work). It’s something special and exciting to see greatness happening in the moment, seeing comics by writers like Tom King and Ram V and going from reading their books because they have Batman in them to reading their books because their names are on the cover.
Mat Groom is such a writer. From my own experience with his work, he’s gone from “that guy who’s writing Return of Ultraman with Kyle Higgins” to “co-host of my favorite podcast” to “writer of one of my new favorite superheroes” to, as of this review, “master storyteller of cosmic epics.”
Inspired by the concept album of the same name by Bear McCreary, the composer responsible for the appropriately epic scores in games like God of War: Ragnorok, animations such as Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and films like Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The graphic novel is meant to both pair with and provide a narrative throughline with each chapter corresponding to a track on the album. It’s an insane combination and it’s only appropriate that the result is a mind-bending, high-concept tale grounded in deeply humanist ideas.
As the synopsis states, the protagonist, Blue-Eyes is the only name we’re given, is being reborn over and over, each time in a different place and a different body. The only consistency is that he is there to witness the ends of the worlds he is born into. As his awareness grows of the cycle he seems to be trapped in, he begins to develop his powers in the hopes of breaking free.
That’s as much as I’m willing to say about the plot. I don’t think it would be fair to the book or the reader to reveal any of what happens next, though my thoughts and reactions may indicate where the story goes, so please keep that in mind as you read.
The book is deeply focused on mortality and the meaning of a finite existence. It’s the final problem, and the burden of its weight is something that every human being carries and is forced to reckon with in their own way. This book is not a guidebook on how to reconcile with the reality of death, it’s a collection of moments, of single, fleeting lives and how they face the end when it comes. Even as Blue-Eyes’ perspective broadens over the course of the story, the sense of each life as something real and special never changes.
As mentioned earlier, the story takes us through some insane and stunning worlds, teasing us with tidbits of history and character. There were so many snapshots of worlds that I’d love to learn more about, but the beauty of it is how little we’re given. The world is vast and we’re only given the briefest of moments in it. In many ways, the book and the storytelling are microcosms of life itself. Life may not be a full story, but it is always a complete one. Despite the individuality of each world, there are certain recurring ideas. Revolution is a theme present in many of the worlds, and Blue-Eyes’ reactions to and reflections on those revolutions is where a lot of the character-work takes place. In each world, no matter how bizarre and alien to our sensibilities, the people feel like people. There’s a fundamental consistency to life and the nature of being a living, sentient being that doesn’t change no matter what universe you’re in.
All of the worlds in this book are drawn by a different artist. Over a dozen artists, each with a distinct style and, yet, the book somehow still feels visually consistent. It helps that the protagonist is always marked by the eyes which he is named for. No matter what his form may be, he’s easy to pick out of a crowd. Of course, consistency hardly means bland. Each world is a visual spectacle and feels full of life, even when we’re only given the tiniest peek. A particular shout-out goes to Rod Reis who needs to be on a high-fantasy book ASAP.
There’s so much to say about this book and I may have to write some more in-depth thoughts about it in a month or two when more people have had the opportunity to check it out. I know I’ll be thinking about it until then. Mat Groom is setting a whole new standard for storytelling and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Fortunately, it looks like 2024 will see the release of quite a few more books with his name on them. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for each one. It’s understandable how the price tag might dissuade some people, but all I can say is that I got far more than my money’s worth. If you’re still on the fence about buying it, I hope my review can help nudge you towards picking it up. Powerful, operatic, and groundbreakingly beautiful, The Singularity is aptly named because there is truly nothing else like it.