Comic Review: The Empty Man #3

The Empty Man #3

Boom! Studios

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Jesús Hervás

The Empty Man, published by Boom! Studios is a new ongoing series that continues in the world Cullen Bunn created in the miniseries of the same name back in 2015. The original comic miniseries was picked up by 20th Century Fox has David Prior is set to write and direct the piece. With such success, it’s no wonder Bunn and Boom! Studios have brought the concept back for an ongoing exploration of this world. Three issues in and monumental power shifts that threaten life as we know it are already at play.

Story:

“The Empty Man” doesn’t refer to one person. Instead, it refers to a disease that, among other things, sends people into a catatonic state. If that were all, it wouldn’t be so bad–and there wouldn’t be much of a story. Some people hallucinate, believe “The Empty Man” is divine or demonic, and carry out acts in its name. That’s where this story picks up. A group of infected delusionals carries out an attack on a suburb. The attack is two-fold; to cleanse the heretics of the region, and to capture a visionary (an infected woman).

Character:

The characters we start with this issue are not the ones we end with. A crazy zealot introduces readers to the cleansing, but then the scene shifts to Monica Jensen and Owen Marsh. They arrive at the house the infected visionary woman lives at. There is little room for character development, as their visit quickly goes bloody when The Empty Man cult arrives. Besides the self-interest of survival, I never had a clear idea of what personal stakes Monica and Owen have in the situation. While death, or the avoidance thereof, is always a solid motivator, something more existential is needed to make this piece, going forward, feel fulfilling.

Art:

The art is appropriate in tone and style but doesn’t stand out from the crowd. The dark backdrops and wood-chiseled features of the characters, give an impression of a hard world that is about to get a lot harder, but when monsters show up in the last pages they feel overly cartoonish for a piece with such hard lines everywhere else. While it’s clear Hervás is an able artist with a distinct and appropriate style, the continuity between human and monster seems strangely off.

With the success of The Empty Man miniseries and the upcoming film, there is plenty of intrigue in this new ongoing series. Fans of the original and those who look forward to the movie should take a look at this near installment. The hope is a reading of the series will deepen the experience of the film.