Animosity #1 Review
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Art by Rafael de Latorre
Colors by Rob Schwager
Letters by Marsall Dillon
Review by Nathan Ryan
So, I’ll admit, I don’t exactly read a lot of Aftershock comics. Okay, fine. Animosity #1 is actually the first Aftershock comic that I have read. I am a fan of Marguerite Bennett and was aware of Insexts, but for one reason or another never picked it up. When I first saw Animosity as I was looking through new comics that had just came out, this one caught my eye. Written by Bennett, the book instantly had credibility. However, it was the cover that sold me on giving it a shot. I knew nothing about the book but I saw a girl and her dog with several ominous threats lurking. I was still clueless as to what the book was about, but very intrigued. I was not let down.
The book started inconspicuously enough on the first page and by page two my jaw was on floor having absolutely no idea what was going on. I’m not going to spoil that moment because it was what took me from curiosity to all-in. However, the main idea of this book is that an event called The Wake has occurred that has given all animals the ability to think and talk. Unfortunately, many of them do not have friendly thoughts towards humans.
To give a little taste of the insanity that ensues in this book, there was a page that included a cow begging for his life, a cat warning the male of the house not to beat his wife, pandas shooting each other with shotguns, and a sweet dog named Sandor proclaiming his love for his owner, a young girl named Jesse. To be clear, those four things I mentioned were only about a third of what we saw on that page. Ummm, yeah. I am not sure what I expected when I cracked open this issue, but it wasn’t this. I mean that in the best possible way.
This book connects for a number of reasons. One, Bennett’s writing is amazing as always. Two, the art by Rafael De Latorre is beautiful on every page and fits perfectly within this book. Three, the relationship between Sandor and Jesse is obviously very special and that love is going to carry this book. Four, it’s absolutely bananas. Five, it does allow one to step back and ask yourself that if animals could have the ability to think and speak the way we do, how would they really feel about humans? There is a real message in these pages that shouldn’t be glossed over.
Verdict
Buy. I almost didn’t notice this book at all because I had never read a book by Aftershock before. I am glad that I did. It finds the perfect balance with a concept that could be the makings of any Disney movie but flipped on it’s head with the terror of a Stephen King novel. Then mix in a boatload of heart. I found this to be a very pleasant surprise and there is no doubt that I will be picking up the second issue.
