Wasteland #43

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

One thing that has consistently made Antony Johnston's Wasteland stand out from other post-Apocalyptic comics is the extent to which he has gone to develop and explain the world into which he has dropped his readers.  Social orders are thought through to a high degree, and every town and person has some kind of backstory that has already been worked out before we meet it or them.  I imagine that Johnston has notebooks full of ideas and stories that we are never going to read, and that exist only to inform what does make it into the comic.

In this issue, Michael is continuing on to A-Ree-Yass-I, the mysterious place where he believes that he and Abi were born.  He's on his own, having split from Abi a couple issues back, and is simply following his instincts.  He comes across a grove of trees that have grown alongside a river in the middle of some wasteland.  Michael's never seen trees in such number of or such height, and he becomes especially interested in an old man who lives among them - a former artisian from the town of Wosh-tun.  Michael doesn't know that he's being followed by Thomas, a man we met a few issues back, who has abilities somewhat like Michael's.

This is a quiet issue, but not in the manner of the last issue, where Abi found herself in the town where her former religious leader was born.  This issue is not about Michael overcoming any particular challenge or hardship; it's more of a filler to show his journey and to give Thomas the chance to catch up with him, but it is still very good, as we get to see a little more of Johnston's world.

Wasteland #42

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

Last issue, Abi and Michael went their separate ways, having argued over how to get to A-Ree-Yass-I, the fabled location where they believe they were born.  This issue follows Abi on her journey.

At the beginning of the comic, she finds herself in Sunspot, a town that is central to her faith as a Sunner.  The town is not what it once was - it's done to having only twenty-three inhabitants, and all but four of them are sick with some form of plague.  Abi has the ability to heal, however, and she sets herself to work curing everyone she can.  For some reason, though, the cure doesn't work properly, for the first time ever.

This issue returns the Sunner religion to a place of prominence in the book.  Since Abi and Michael left the city of Newbegin a while back, there has been very little discussion of religion.  The people of Sunspot interpret Abi's abilities as being proof that she is one of Father Moon's children, all of whom were long believed to be dead.  It is the close attention to world building, and faith's place within that, that has made Wasteland stand out among other post-Apocalyptic comics.  I'm pleased to see Antony Johnston return to that.

This is a good character-study issue, and I'm happy for the extra insight into Abi's character.  Russel Roehling is working well as the new artist of this series, and I'm especially happy to see it return to a monthly schedule.  This issue doesn't have a text piece featuring the journal of Ankya Ofsteen, and that is missed a great deal.  Ankya is referred to in the story, which is a first for this series, but I'd prefer her story continue to be told on its own, and not just be woven into the comics.  I wonder if Michael or Abi are going to meet her on their travels...

Wasteland #41

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

It is so good to see this series back on track again, as new regular artist Russel Roehling shows improvement in his art and his handling of the regular characters, and Antony Johnston does what he does best, providing another exciting chapter to his post-Apocalyptic epic saga.

Michael and Abi were visiting the small settlement of Far Enough when they saw an object come crashing from the sky into the nearby Pre-city.  They investigated with a man they had just met, Thomas, who has the ability to get a psychic reading off of people and objects.  The object that fell, an old satellite, provides Thomas (and a reader) with an image of how the world came to its end.

Our heroes don't get much time to dwell on this new information however, as Thomas's daughter, Diana's boyfriend shows up in the Pre-city, being accosted by some Dwellers.  The group's fight and flight from these mutated creatures ends with them back in Thomas's home, where they all discover that they have a few things in common.

Johnston's always done a remarkable job of building his fictional world, both through the main story and the text pieces narrated by explorer Ankya Ofsteen, and this issue continues that.  There is some dispute as to whether or not the 'talking machine' that Abi relies on to lead her and Michael to A-Ree-Yass-I, the fabled land they think they were born in, is leading them astray.  Johnston has been building the mystery of that place since the very first issue, and I hope we'll get to see it for what it really is soon.

Wasteland #40

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

Yet again, Wasteland has a new artist.  Since Christopher Mitten left this title, it's seemed that Antony Johnston has had great difficulty in finding someone to stick with the book.  I don't know why some of the other artists - Remington Veteto and Justin Greenwood were both announced as new regular artists - have moved on, but I do hope that Roehling sticks around.

His work is more realistic than Mitten's or the others', and that takes a bit of getting used to, but he's an accomplished artist.  At times, I've found the level of abstraction in this book to be kind of annoying, as it's not always been clear what has been happening.  Greenwood gave the book a more cartoonish feel than I felt appropriate for this series.  Roehling works for me, especially if his joining the crew means this book will come out regularly.

That is because Wasteland is one of the best-written comics on the stands.  This new issue starts a new arc, which has Michael and Abi, still travelling across the wasteland, arrive at a town just before an asteroid crashes to the Earth, obliterating a nearby pre-city.  At the town, they meet Thomas, a learned man who has the ability to pick up psychic traces off of objects and people (kind of like Longshot's power).  His daughter Diana scavenges for interesting items from the pre-city (like the 'fown' she finds this issue)), and together they seem to be more enlightened and knowledgeable than their neighbours.

Johnston is definitely taking his time in getting these characters to their destination - the mysterious A-Ree-Yass-I - but as he keeps diverting their attention in ways that reveal a little more about their strange provenance, I don't mind.