Comic Review: Tartarus #4

Tartarus #4

Image Comics

Writer: Johnnie Christmas

Artist: Jack T. Cole

Tartarus is a science-fiction/space-fantasy story focusing on action and drama.  With a wide variety of characters and locations, there a lot of moving parts working to create a rather-ambitious plot. With the complexity of it all, some things end up being confusing, but overall it’s an exciting and imaginative story.

In the previous issue, our characters arrived at the colony of Tartarus. Right off the bat, the citizens showed themselves to be ruthless and the streets riddled with crime. The protagonist, Tilde, who fled her community, soon ran into her unknown twin-brother. This issue builds more on the exciting world as well as continuing the conflicts in the story.

Two characters that have been missing for an entire issue make their return. I did not expect to see them return, but I’m glad they have. An interesting new development in this series is the unlikely team-up of these two. Their story is going down a different path than the main plot, almost completely separated. However, the two stories are most-definitely going to be clashing together soon.

This issue keeps jumping from location to location as the characters go down their separate paths, but the comic never feels bloated. The pacing is done incredibly well, which makes the different subplots mesh together instead of giving the reader whiplash. One thing that helps contribute to the pacing greatly is the relationships of the characters. Tilde and Klinzu have some great dialogue in this issue that mixes their funny banter with their genuine concern for each other in a natural way. Tilde and her brother Mogen are trying to form a bond while also unsure if they can trust each other, leading to some nice drama. Even the two characters that are just now trying to team-up despite disliking each other make for good scenes.

There are several exciting action sequences in this issue, with one main one serving as the climax. The action is fast and fluent, but at times it does feel like the art cannot properly convey what is happening. With imaginative settings as well as chaotic action taking place, it cannot be easy to properly convey that visually. As a result, some of the art comes across as unclear and confusing. It is slightly distracting, but the excitement of the scenes are more than enough to make up for it. One thing that the art does well during the action is the force of it all. When characters are punching, the weight of the punches and the impact of the hits feel particularly brutal.

I’ve adjusted more to the art style as I’ve read this series. but I still have mixed feelings. Often, I find the characters’ designs and the settings’ backgrounds to be perfectly fine. However, some bigger action sequences and close-up panels lack the necessary amount of detail and leave me having to look a little harder to tell what I’m looking at.

Tartarus does a lot of things right. The way it juggles multiple storylines, as well as the relationships between the characters, is impressive. The world is being fleshed out, and more complexity and details are being shown with every issue. The next issue will mark the end of the first arc, and with so much already being accomplished in this series, I hope to see more to follow.