Whispers #1

by Joshua Luna

I've really come to enjoy the work of the Luna Brothers.  I've read their works backwards, starting with The Sword, then Girls, and not that long ago, their first series, Ultra. Long before that, I'd enjoyed their Marvel work on Spider-Woman, but they didn't write that.  Anyway, I have really grown to appreciate their pacing, original plots, and above all else, the strong characters that they fill their books with.

I don't know why Joshua Luna has struck out on his own with this new comic, but it makes things even less clear as to what Jonathan Luna contributed to their earlier work, as this is a very good comic.

Sam is a bit of a mess.  He's clearly suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (when we meet him, he's afraid to touch a door handle to enter a coffee shop), and his girlfriend has recently left him.  He knows he's not normal, but he also doesn't know what to do about it, especially when his dreams start to get very strange.

He tries to tell his ex about this, but seeing as she's in the middle of caring for her recently injured father, she's not too interested in Sam's problems.  Her friends are openly hostile to him.  What we later learn is that Sam is not dreaming, and has instead developed the ability to have out of body experiences, or project his spirit elsewhere.  When visiting people he knows in this state, he's able to read their minds, and make suggestions to them (hence the title of the series).

It's hard to know where this series is headed after only this first issue, but Luna has me intrigued.  He does a great job of providing the dread that comes with actually learning what others think of you, as Sam visits his estranged mother in a haunting scene.

Artistically, Joshua Luna working on his own brings a different look to the book than what we've seen when he works with his brother.  There is greater textures to the page.  The digital colouring effects that he uses give the book a warmer, more burnished feel.  It's strange - being so familiar with the brothers' work, this solo effort looks very familiar, but I don't think I would have accredited it to a Luna had I looked at it without reading the credits.

This series looks to have some promise - I don't know how long it's expected to last, but I'm probably going to be on board throughout.