Sweet Tooth #26 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (writer), Matt Kindt (artist & paints), Pat Brosseau (letters) & Mark Doyle (editor)

The Story: A flashback to 1911-era Alaska and a possible glimpse of what triggered the plague that has wiped out much of humanity in the present day Sweet Tooth story.

What’s Good: Matt Kindt is probably the perfect artist to illustrate a few issues of Sweet Tooth.  I’ve wondered for a while if we’re seeing some of the last monthly art from Jeff Lemire who usually writes and draws this series.  Now that he has duties to writer Animal Man and Frankenstein over in the new 52 at DC, it has to be hard finding time to also draw a 20-page comic every month.  That’s not to say it’s impossible, but it has to be difficult.

Kindt is really an inspired choice to do an arc of Sweet Tooth.  I think of Kindt as more of a watercolorist, but even his linework is pretty different than Lemire’s.  However, both Kindt and Lemire live in that same emotional area in terms of what their art says.  It’s very somber, measured and thoughtful art in both cases and perfect for the mood of Sweet Tooth.  There are a few panels in here that are beyond wonderful such as a double-pager of the team dogsledding with the Northern Lights in the background. That would be a hard scene for digital colorists to capture, but Kindt nails it with watercolors.  Also love Kindt’s sound effects.  There’s a particular scene where a guy get’s grossed out and barfs and the word “BLURRG” is mixed in with the vomit coming out of the guy’s mouth.  Great stuff!

The script is pretty interesting too.  In the main ongoing story of the series, the characters have decided that they need to reach Alaska because they think there is an answer for the plague that killed most of humanity frozen up there.  This issues’s story seems to be filling in some of those blanks as we follow a new character in the year 1911 as he searches for a lost missionary expedition in frontier Alaska.  The whole thing has a creepy vibe because you just know that something bad has befallen the expedition and Kindt really sells the “alone in the wilderness” atmosphere.  It’s really just an alien concept to today’s reader: Being so totally out of touch that no one would know what happened to you for months/years.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Captain America & Bucky #622 – This was a really hard choice because the runners-up were equally high quality, but Cap & Bucky edges them out because it managed to do this in a self-contained issue.  It isn’t the beginning of something exciting (like American Vampire #19) or the middle story of a fun arc (like Amazing Spider-Man #670)…..the whole thing is here: set-up, conflict and resolution.  If you had moved away from Cap & Bucky when the present day adventures of Steve Rogers moved over to Captain America, you’re really missing out because Cap & Bucky is wonderful as it tells stories from WWII.  This particular story highlights Bucky feeling a little left out and intimidated by the other Invaders (especially a really dickish Namor), but he manages to redeem himself, save the day and earn the respect of everyone.  This issue also shows the power of art in comics.  You could have a lot of other competent comic artists draw this series and no one would care about the series.  When you put Chris Samnee and Bettie Breitweiser on the art duties, you suddenly have something very special that can win “issue of the week”.  The combo of Samnee’s intelligent use of negative space and Breitweiser’s lovely and tasteful colors is really something.

Most Anticipated This Week: The Walking Dead #89 – TWD has really spoiled us by coming out like clock-work for a LONG time, so it kinds smarts that we haven’t had an issue since mid-August.  I guess Robert Kirkman is kinda busy???  I had to reskim my review of TWD #88 to remind myself of what’s going on.  Kirkman did a very uncharacteristic job of leaving some of messy storylines hanging in the air last time, so I really want to see how he clears them up.  There’s some romance stuff going on, a plot against Rick, Carl’s recovery……and you just know it mostly won’t end well.  Bring it!

Other picks: Animal Man #2, Swamp Thing #2, Sweet Tooth #26, Severed #3, Hulk #42, Thunderbolts #164, X-Men Schism #5