Elephantmen #62 Review

Elephantmen #62 marks a crucial point for the title; after finding it’s stride in the last year or so, each new issue has to continue to be as gripping without dropping the ball. We’ve had a few risks lately, so how does this issue follow up from last month’s cliffhanger?

The official description from Image:

“THE RED QUEEN DESCENDANT” Conclusion. Sahara’s life is changed forever.

Straight away this issue delivers with some gripping action and developments. While it’s not exactly unpredictable, it more or less hits all the right spots and, besides a few minor flaws, it’s hard to feel anything other than satisfied. This issue sticks true to the core of the series and, while it avoids some of the wider schemes hinted at in other arcs, it nonetheless has a strong sense of progression.

That said, I do feel the writing sometimes trips up on itself sometimes. For instance, Richard Starkings still hints at the ‘Red Queen’ which – ever since it was shoe-horned in as part of the H.R Giger tribute – has always looked out of place. Sometimes it comes across as metaphorical, sometimes Starkings writes the Red Queen as a physical, tangable character in her own right. Like I said, it’s a minor flaw, but it’s importance doesn’t come across very well at all.

However, all flaws can be forgiven with the artwork. Alex Medellin is very much at home with Elephantmen #62 and it’s no surprise the title gives way to large panels to let his pencils do the talking. Medellin has a fantastic sense of perspective and manages to find enough decent angles to keep every page fresh. In fact, I’d say the pencils are better on the titular Elephantmen than they are with the human cast (or the crowd simple wasn’t given too much detail). Still, combined with the varied colors and tones, Elephantmen has argubably never looked better.

All in all, I think fans of the series are going to be interested with this. While the title never has been open to new readers, I think this one isn’t too bad of a point to latch onto, either.