The Scorched #35 // Review
Bishop is attacking Jessica. Wynn implanted bombs in both them. He knows that if she dies, a bomb goes off inside of him that’ll kill him too. She knows something that he doesn’t know, though. He’s about to find out something about that in a very messy way in The Scorched #35. Writer John Layman continues a journey into some of the periphery of the Spawn Universe in an issue brought to page and panel by Stepen Segovia. Colorist Diner Ribeiro lends depth and atmosphere to another brutal look into the world of angels and demons in a horror-fantasy world of action and danger.
Jessica might not have even had to run into Bishop of she wasn’t looking for Medieval Spawn. She’s not sure where he is, so maybe a trip to the facility in question might turn-up some leads of some sort. She might not have known that Bishop was going to attack, but she knows exactly what to do when he does. It’s just a matter of getting into the right position and using the proper tactics. Given the right momentum, she might even come out of the attack more or less alive.
Layman plants the central action of the issue on the battle between Bishop and Jessica. It's a fun, little action sequence that doesn't seem terribly consequential until right before the whole thing gets resolved. It's not often that an action sequence in a mainstream comic book can provide as some level of surprise. Lesman comes remarkably close in a allergies satisfying issue that continues to move the action of the series along in a respectively engaging direction. Everything seems to be pretty silently placed on the page in a way that gives the proper weight to everything in order to provide emotional motivation for what's going on.
Segovia into the action quite well. There is genuine brutality in it that feels kind of weird in a high-tech facility. That's essentially a workplace. The contrast between a high security facility some degree of reckless action isn't quite brought to the page with the kind of perspective it needs to feel distinct. That being sai the conflict between Jessica and Bishop strong enough that it can satisfyingly serve as the center of everything visually. Ribeiro takes the opportunity to do a few splatter effects. The mood and atmosphere is carried quite well and a space that feels a bit strange having the quality of life that it does. It's a big high-tech facility, but it's like a 1980s music video or something. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it does look cool. And so much of the luminosity that Ribeiro brings the page is cool after it doesn't really need to make sense.
One might expect things to be slowing down a little little bit. Certainly in light of what happens over the course of the issue. However, things need to keep moving. And they do. There's danger ahead. And it continues to dominate the page in a series that continues to have quite a bit of momentum.
