Undiscovered Country #2 // Review
The first issue of Undiscovered Country, the highly-anticipated new title from Image, focused mainly on world-building and political extrapolation. In the second issue, all that takes a backseat to some much-needed character development, as we learn a little--but not too much--about what makes Daniel, one of the two American ex-pats sent on this little mission, tick.
Aside from some flashbacks into Daniel’s life prior to the start of the series. Most of the issue actually focuses on the problem of the away mission’s pilot, Pavel. Daniel and his sister Charlotte, along with the two diplomatic envoys, conspire with the American freedom fighters to retrieve Pavel from his captivity in the hands of the otherworldly Destiny Man. Pavel, meanwhile, does his best to bargain for his life.
Scott Snyder and Charles Soule do a great job of getting into Daniel’s head a bit here, while still making the twist at the very end of the issue plausible and, one realizes, inevitable. While the world-building takes a backseat in this issue, there are still some great examples of it as we get a better view of what’s become of the United States since it walled itself off from the rest of the world.
That world-building is where the art, by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Danielle Orlandini, really shines. The design of the Destiny Man and his followers is delightfully grotesque, and other ideas--like giant mollusks being ridden in the American desert--give Camuncoli and Orlandini the chance to really go nuts with their bizarre visuals. The coloring by Matt Wilson is appropriately garish as well, giving the line art depth and weight. The lettering by Crank! is solid as well.
This issue of Undiscovered Country is an improvement over the first, focusing as it does on Daniel and giving the artists more opportunities to show off some wild stuff. Unfortunately, it’s still a little muddy and esoteric as a comic; some answers to what has actually happened inside the US in this weird sci-fi hellscape would go a long way towards making the series make a bit more sense.
