Comic Review: Wasted Space #11

Wasted Space #11

Vault Comics

Writer: Michael Moreci

Artist: Hayden Sherman

Finally, it is good to be back in one of my favorite comics. Wasted Space returns with a brand new arc, a new direction, and some fresh ideas that make this new installment a joy to read. It even offers some awesome, mind-bending paneling that really takes advantage of the comic medium.

We last left Billy Bane and his crew as they set off to destroy “The Creator.” Another way to put this is God. They’re looking to kill God. I do apologize if that offends anyone; it’s just what the story is about. Now, the plot jumps around a little bit in this issue, skipping here and there and months at a time, but much of it is character-driven.  We get to see the social consequences of the actions taken in #10. The result is a different kind of reading experience than any of the previous issues. This is all going on while Billy and his crew try to fly through “The Slip.” It’s all mysterious but makes for good reading and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I can’t lie. I think it was the wrong choice to have Molly and Billy hook up in #10. Firstly, because Molly is one of the only women in the story, and so also having her be the inevitable romantic interest is just… cliche at best, and sexist at worse due to the fact that Molly could be used as a storytelling device in order to further-deepen Billy’s character. This is a common pitfall for male authors writing female characters, no matter the fictional medium. I should be clear though, I don’t know if Moreci is falling into this pit or jumping over it. My hope is the latter, of course, but time will tell as the comic continues. This issue, is certainly hopeful, as it’s mostly set in Molly’s PoV, which makes her feel less a plot point and more an important character to the swirling plot.

As has been the standard for this piece, the art is raw, jagged, blunt, just like the world it depicts. However, for the first time ever, Sherman throws some really awesome styles and panels in this issue. As Billy and the crew enter “The Slip” the panels go to Molly’s PoV. I don’t know what to compare it to other than a mushroom trip. I think Mike and Hayden would approve of that analogy. The art loses much of its rigidness and adopts a lot of curves, psychedelic colors, and shapes. It’s awesome. Then it’s like Molly’s head just explodes and we’re seeing all these tiny panels that are wrapping around the page, each one the same but different. Like I said, mind-bending stuff.

In the end, this is totally worth your time and if you haven’t read Wasted Space I recommend you start from #1, I left any real important spoilers out of this review.

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