Ain't No Grave #4 // Review
Ryder had been through a hell of a lot. She thought that the past was behind her. And maybe in SOME sense it was. But it’s not over yet. She’s got to go and confront the one enemy that’s been haunting her for longer than anything. She’s going to have a hell of a journey to get there, though as she’s about to find out in Ain’t No Grave #4. Writer Skottie Young and artist Jorge Corona bring their 5-issue mini series through its penultimate chapter with style and poise in a cool procession of powerful imagery that cleverly haunts the page.
Some journeys don’t require words. Sometimes it’s really just a matter of tumbling through a whole lot of inner hell to make it to the place deep inside where the journey truly comes from. Ryder’s got a lot of journey to go through before she can even begin her journey to the showdown with the big and powerful force that’s going to end it all for everyone in one fashion or another. Through the drinking and the depression and the sleepless nights she’s going to come to the one place where it all meets-up. And when she gets there, Death is going to greet her by name.
Skottie Young has been working with Corona for quite a long time now. The writer/artist pairing both clearly have a great deal of respect for each other in an issue that plays out with only two words of dialogue spoken by Death at issue’s end. The specific pacing of Ryder’s journey in the penultimate issue is power. The title of the issue is simply: “Depression.” Young clearly has some form of experience with it as there’s a clear echo of the oppressively restless exhaustion that is a heavy tumble with depression.
The distinctive feel of deep and yawning sadness echoes across the page. Corona follows a steady rhythm with the pacing of Ryder’s journey as she moves through the motions towards the cold inevitability rest on the final page of the issue. There’s a sharp sense of longing moving like a cold shock throughout the entire issue. Corona’s rendering of Ryder’s emotional state is profound and vivid. Young could have written some form of narration or dialogue but it would have cheapened Corona’s artwork and what it’s doing throughout the issue. It’s remarkably vivid stuff on so many levels.
Silent issues can be very, very tricky to manage. When an entire chapter of a story needs to play-out entirely without words, it can feel more than a bit disjointed...especially if there’s a lot of characterization that needs to take place as is the case with this issue. There’s a point, though...a point in depression where the verbal end of thought is just...totally vacant and vacuous and all that’s left is the cold reality of what’s going on. Young and Corona do a strikingly brilliant job of bringing the full reality of that non-verbal aspect of depression to the page in a haunting issue.
