Elephantmen #44 Review

After some rather complicated issues, Elephantmen #44 begins to put the pieces together, whilst still being vague and mysterious. Still, there’s a sense of things moving in this issue, even if it dialogue heavy.

The official description from Image:

“SLEEPING PARTNERS,” Part Three
Is she really going out with him?

This issue carries on from a lot of the previous arcs, uniting many of the Elephantmen. Its only when you see them together that you realize some of them don’t interact that much; Elephantmen can be a difficult series to get to grips with plot wise, and new comers might not feel at ease.

This mainly focuses around on Trench (the Zebra). More of a fringe character recently, the series does its best to bring him into the fold. This is done via the third dream sequence shown so far. These, like previous issues, demonstrate a fantastic level of art, even if the images are very ‘static’, showing the same scene over and over. Still, with some reasonably written dialogue, its a very atmospheric couple of pages. Trench always has a certain ‘noir’ feel about him, and the writing and art captures that well, especially through its use of a moody New York at night time.

Of course, if there’s one thing Elephantmen can do, its bring characters together only to leave more questions and potential plots. The dialogue is good, but its obvious suggestions towards a certain path might be too obvious for some. The dream sequences are referenced a lot, but it sometimes feels too obvious; although its hard to criticize a world full of talking anthropomorphic animals for not being realistic.

Despite sounding very serious, there are some moments of humor admit all the tension. In particular, there’s a scene regarding an older Elephant and his long winded speech. Its funny, full of charm and yet somehow makes a few serious points along the way. As for art, it certainly provides a little shock. Whilst the likes of Trench have eye patches and occasional cuts and bruises, seeing a fully wounded and sick Elephant to compare and contrast too certainly reminds readers of the Elephantmen’s origins.