Wasteland #38

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

The main appeal of Wasteland is the totality of Antony Johnston's vision of the future.  He's built a fully-realized world in this comic, and that often comes through in small moments that fill his stories.  I often feel like he knows every character's entire life story, and only shares some of it as he works his way through his long-running series. 

Gerr has been traveling alongside our heroes Michael and Abi for some time now, and we as readers have known all along that his purpose in being with them is to betray them and kill them for Marcus, if they find the mysterious A-Ree-Yass-I, a fabled place where the three have a shared history or origin.  Last issue, Michael and Abi both figured out that Gerr worked for Marcus, and now it's time for him to tell his story.

Gerr has worked for Marcus since he was a boy, and he goes through his history in Newbegin for most of this issue.  The ending came as a surprise to me, but I shouldn't discuss that here, except to say that one of the most interesting things in this comic has been the way in which Abi has changed and darkened as a character from being the optimistic healer we first me years ago.

Justin Greenwood does better with quieter issues like this one, and his cleaner vision of Wasteland is growing on me.  I still miss Christopher Mitten's art on this book, but I'm very happy with the monthly schedule, so it's a fair trade.