Eat The Rich #3
Joey learns even more about what she got herself into in Eat The Rich #3, by writer Sarah Gailey, artist Pius Bak, colorist Roman Titov, and letterer Cardinal Rae. This issue is downright chilling, as Gailey and company turn things up to eleven.
Getting too much into the nuts and bolts of the story of this issue will kind of ruin a lot of the more chilling aspects of the whole thing. Still basically, Joey has her conversation with Astor's stepmother and learns even more about the arrangement between staff and the rich. She eats with everyone and begins to grow more and more accustomed to things but gets another bombshell about the traditions of the Crestfall Bluffs, one that will change her forever.
Effective horror has to create a mood, one that suffuses the work. It's why slasher horror is the most pedestrian of horror; every slasher movie is basically the same mood, the impending doom of the unstoppable killing machine stalking everyone. It works, but it's not great. Gailey realizes what kind of story they're telling, so they go for broke in this issue and set a mood that works throughout the book, one that freezes the blood in the reader's veins. They introduce a sense of normality to the whole arrangement, with the stepmother explaining it in a way that almost makes it seem reasonable. In many ways, it's meant to critique modern capitalism, as most people sign their lives away to the wealthy in a myriad of little ways. The stepmother tells Joey she instituted the contracts, and it's implied that it makes her, a woman who comes from a working-class background, better about it. It's such a subtle indictment of the petit-bourgeois, that class of person who sells out to the rich and tries to make things "better" but never changes the outcome. Politics was always a part of this story, and Gailey reminds readers of this part.
Even as Joey grows more accustomed to the way things are going, Gailey makes sure there is a palpable aura of unease to the whole thing. Joey and Astor both are slipping into roles that neither really likes; Astor is smoking, and Joey is just kind of existing, getting through because this is how she gets the life she wants; schmoozing the rich and playing their game, becoming one of them. Gailey drops the biggest bombshell at the end of the issue, which changes the way readers look at the story and goes back to the book's message about capitalism.
Mood in comics only partly comes from the writing; the rest is from the art, and Bak and Titov deliver in spades in this issue. One uses "brings the script to life" to describe art in a comic sometimes; it's a useful cliche, but here it's the truth. Gailey wrote in all the dread and Bak, and Titov brought it to life. Whether it be Bak's expressive character acting, which acts as a counterpart to the text boxes, to Titov's colors, which play with darker tones in some places and muted lighter tones elsewhere, the art is perfect for capturing the mood of this comic.
Eat The Rich #3 adds even more to the story and does so in a wonderfully chilling manner. This is the third iteration of that word in this review, but it's really the perfect way to describe what Gailey, Bak, and Titov have created with this issue. This issue took a great story and made it something next level.
