Wasteland #26

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Christopher Mitten

I'm seriously hoping that this book has fixed its scheduling problems and all of its delays, and is going to be coming out more regularly again, because I've seriously missed it. This issue is a strong example of all of the reasons why Wasteland is one of my favourite books.

The focus this time is on Yan, who has been demoted from being Marcus's personal servant to now helping out at the house of the Artisian who tried to help Michael and Abi a while back (he's not named, and I don't remember it). Yan is having a hard time adjusting to the new status quo in Newbegin - Marcus's sister is there now, and Sunners have been given important jobs among the Disciples. He's not the only one having difficulty with this - there is a great deal of unrest and violence in the city.

The issue's events span six months, but we only see them from Yan's perspective. It's an interesting way of moving the plot forward without revealing too much of what has been going on.

As usual, Johnston's character work is perfect. We see Yan mature and develop over the course of these six months, and Mitten matches these developments by growing out his hair and changing his physical demeanor.