Echo # 4 – Review

By Terry Moore (Writer and Artist)

Terry Moore’s Echo is about two women joined by inexplicable circumstances. Annie Trotter was a test pilot for a weapons manufacturer who decided she was worth killing for scientific study. As a missile pressed against her body, Annie’s experimental suit simulated an atomic blast high up in the stratosphere destroying her and the composition of the suit itself.

Julie, a down and out photographer whose life couldn’t get any worse, had the unfortunate luck to be underneath the explosion. As bits of the suit fell down upon her, its mysterious composition stuck to Julie’s body and with it Annie’s memories!

Echo #4 elucidates Julie and Annie bizarre relationship via the suit and what role Annie’s boyfriend Dillon will play. The question remains if Annie is still cognizant but incorporeal within the suit or the suit has stored all of Annie’s being. This tantalizing science fiction tale is given the warmth and profundity that accompanies Moore’s work. Julie’s sacrifice for her dog, Dillon’s outrage over the cover up of Annie’s death, and the callousness of Jack towards Annie’s death and Dillon’s grief, provide the emotional resonance for renewed interest. These characters are relatable despite their setting and predicament, and one can’t wait to see what happens next.

The mood of the series is noticeably different but remains congruous aesthetically to Strangers in Paradise. This may leave fans of that series a little out of place, but given that Moore is an incredibly expressive artist, he gives his characters a visual accessibility of emotion that other science fiction comic don’t have. For instance, the forlorn pout on Julie’s dog is enough for the reader to share his food with him, let alone Julie. Moore’s ability to make not only his writing but his art accessibly emotional provides the personal connection which bonds with the reader like a top-secret experimental suit.

Terry Moore’s Echo is amazing! (Grade: A)

-Steven M. Bari