Continuing the new series from Vault Comics, this is Human Remains #2.
Jennifer McStay knows what it’s like to feel trapped. Stuck in a world of violence, where once intimate spaces become claustrophobic, and everything seems to shrink until there’s nothing left but fear. Maybe that means she’ll be able to survive the real monsters, who live outside and hunt human emotion. Or maybe it means the monsters will finally be her escape.
Writer – Peter Milligan
Artist, Cover Artist – Sally Cantirino
Human Remains continues to delve deeper into this new way. It’s not just new ways of working, but new ways of living as there are different aspects to the daily routines of the characters involved.
And this is what the story does so well. The gruesome deaths from the creatures from hell/another planet/another dimension are just a side part. The real story here is how the normal people in the story react. It does well jumping across the time and space barriers where we get a further look at the early days of the attacks, as well as what the current status quo is now.
There is some religion, there are those who don’t believe it is happening, or that it isn’t as bad as people make out. There are quack protections and rumours, which make this all the more interesting. And in between all of this, there are those trying to understand and fight back. They even have their own issues.
The moments between the characters are really well done, with the tensions this situation has created you can see the relationships are at a breaking point – the fact that emotions are a trigger for attacks, makes things harder for the characters.
We also see those who look to take advantage of these events, and there are always those.
I’m enjoying the art in this story. There are some excellent exchanges shown between characters as well as changes between the homelives, work and the attacks from these creatures. A nice mix.
This continues to be an excellent study into human relationships, hidden in a horror story.
