Sweet Tooth #4

by Jeff Lemire

This is a pretty decompressed, but still significant issue of Sweet Tooth. Lemire excels at displaying uncertainty, especially in the relationships between people of different generations. That's basically what Essex County is all about, and he's duplicated the same sort of thing here, with the relationship between Jeppard and Gus, albeit in a post-apocalyptic world populated with human/animal hybrids.

In this issue, our unlikely duo come across a small-scale brothel in a busted up small town, and Jeppard displays to Gus that he is a 'good person'. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly clear that that's probably not the case. A few more hints are dropped about The Preserve too, whetting my apetite for future issues.

One other thing worth remarking upon is the colouring by Jose Villarrubia. I don't normally notice the colours in a Vertigo book - they employ some talented journeymen colourists whose work is almost always good without being stand-out. In this issue, the colours seem crisper and more noticeable, especially the wall paper pattern in the brothel.