Clear #2
Dunes make a new discovery that sends him somewhere he shouldn’t have gone in Clear #2, by writer Scott Snyder, artist Francis Manapul, and letters by Andworld Designs. Snyder and Manapul drop some backstory on readers and make things even more interesting than they were before.
The book starts with a flashback to the Red War, telling how the world got to where it is now and how Dunes met Kendra. From there, it went back to the present, with Dunes picking up his ex-wife’s stuff from her job at the Department of Connectivity. He and Sam talk out the leads from what Dunes brought back. The director is murdered by someone in a George Washington veil at the DOC. Dunes figures things out after bugging Sam and makes his way to a confrontation with an ending that no one could have predicted.
The best cyberpunk has a formative story that brings the world to the way it is when the reader/viewer encounters it. Snyder gives Clear that with this issue by outlining the Red War, how the United States lost it, and what it led to. It makes a lot of sense; the US isn’t beaten by force of arms but by cyber warfare, something that changes everything. From there, he gives more information on where veils came from and how no one knows which corporation makes them or where they are based. There are so many little pieces of world-building throughout this comic, and it really brings it to life. Cyberpunk doesn’t always need a backstory, but the fact that Snyder is giving Clear one is pretty great.
As for the rest of the book, it’s all quite intriguing. Snyder mirrors the opening of the book with the ending. The book’s central mystery of who killed Kendra gets even more convoluted, especially with the murder of the director of the DOC. Add to that the gang 1518 that Dunes learns about from Kendra’s stuff, and there are plenty of new wrinkles to the mystery after this issue. As for the characters, at this point, they’re pretty boilerplate cyberpunk/noir. Of course, that’s not a bad thing, but they could be better. The ending works very well, as it’s a beautiful cliffhanger.
Manapul is a treasure. The pencils and color are amazing and really make everything work so much better. He’s not an artist that most people would normally associate with cyberpunk, but he’s killing it. A big part of that is his coloring. He understands that cyberpunk works best with neon and grime and captures that wonderfully. His pencils are phenomenal as well, which is par for the course for Manapul.
Clear #2 builds on the world and the mystery. Everything is more interesting, but the characters are kind of elementary so far. The ending of the issue is excellent, and the art is terrific. All in all, another fantastic read.
