Whispers #5 Review


Joshua Luna’s solo series, Whispers, is back with its penultimate fifth issue, after nearly half a year. When last we saw Sam, he’d managed to defeat a terrible demon, only to discover himself undergoing a horrifying transformation. Note that this review contains SPOILERS. Here’s the official (and very brief) description from Image:

Sam fights the devil.

In many ways, the plot of this entire issue is a bit of a runaround. Sam is confronted by a divine force, which orders him to kill another man, or else go to hell. Because Sam has no direct link to the man, he tries to manipulate Cali into manipulating her mother into taking action against him. It’s a convoluted scenario that seems pointless once Sam decides such manipulation is wrong. Only after he apparently goes to hell does he realize that he too is being manipulated, by none other than Lily.

This, at least, explains the complicated plot mechanics, which establish the precedent that long chains of people can be manipulated at once. That doesn’t make it any easier to follow what’s going on, however. Altogether, much of the issue still feels wasted, given that “it was all a dream,” but the Lily twist on the last page has fascinating implications for everything that’s happened so far.

Luna’s art is good, and consistent with the series as a whole. The expressiveness of the faces is astounding, but the characters consistently seem older than they actually are, although this can be attributed to the stress they all seem to be under. The backgrounds, unfortunately, are simplistic and recycled. This, along with the equally simplistic coloring, makes the long wait between issues even more difficult to take.

After so long a wait, it’s frustrating that this issue didn’t have more to offer. That, in turn, makes it even harder to be excited about Whispersfinal issue, whenever it may come.

3/5

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