Sweet Tooth #19

by Jeff Lemire, Nate Powell, Emi Lenox, and Matt Kindt

Sweet Tooth often does something different (like last month's sideways issue), but it was a surprise to see that Jeff Lemire has invited a few other comics creators into his sandbox to play for a bit.

This issue has the three female characters that have joined Jeppard and Gus on their trip to Alaska wandering around in the woods and talking to each other, sharing parts of each of their stories.  Each story is written and drawn by a different cartoonist.

Nate Powell shares a little more about Lucy, who was a nurse in her previous life, before she was mysteriously abducted.  I've not read Powell's Swallow Me Whole yet, although it's been on my list of books I'm interested in for a few years now.  Emi Lenox, of Emitown, gives us a look at Becky and her memories from just before the plague.  This story follows her through a number of unfortunate events, as she's managed to survive where so many others didn't.

The final story is by Matt Kindt, who has done a number of books that I've read and enjoyed in the last year, and who I now consider to be a 'buy on sight' artist.  He shows us what life was like for Wendy, the pig-hybrid girl, before she was discovered by the militia.  His faded artwork is an interesting contrast for Lemire's pencils that follow it.

This issue is a very good place for a new reader to jump on the title, as it introduces these three characters very well, and leaves them hanging (literally) in an interesting position, which will help launch the next arc.  Sweet Tooth is one of Vertigo's better books, and is worth taking a look at.