Whispers #2

by Joshua Luna

Whispers is an odd series, not exactly like anything else that I've read before.  The comic focuses on Sam Webber, a young man who suffers from OCD, and who has just discovered that he has the ability to control his out of body experiences, or to remote view.

In the first issue, we met Sam, his ex-girlfriend, and her friends, who have no use for him.  We also traveled with him as he checked in on his estranged mother and his first girlfriend, who is having problems with a drug dealer.  In this issue, we see the end of his trip, which has him 'viewing' a demonic creature, which eats a baby (I know, grisly).

The next day, Sam decides not to worry about the demon thing, and instead goes to visit his ex, to prove that he really can have out of body experiences.  This conversation doesn't go well, as Sam just keeps coming off weirder and weirder.  Later, he meets a new neighbour, who seems quite open to his various quirks, mostly because she doesn't feel all that normal her own self.  Sam tells her everything, and the girl is supportive, but a little surprised that he is more concerned with patching up his relationship than he is protecting small children.

And here is what really sets this book apart.  Firstly, there are very few comics that attempt to address real mental illness, so I find that the portrayal of Sam is very interesting.  There are also very few comics that star unlikeable characters though, and as much as Joshua Luna is setting up Sam's problems as sympathetic, he's just not a very nice guy; his self-absorption does make him hard to care about.  It makes him kind of fascinating, though.

Luna's art looks nice here, and I find that I'm still trying to enumerate the differences between his solo work and his previous comics, which were done with his brother.  The people in this book have more expressive faces, showing fatigue and displeasure much more clearly than in the brothers' other work, but otherwise, there aren't a lot of differences.

Whispers is a very interesting comic.  You should check it out.