Low

A mini comics review of Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini’s “Low” 2014-2020. Just, Wow. I understand some reviewer’s reticence about the third and fourth volume. In a future where the sun’s expansion has forced humanity’s survivors into underwater domes for survival, Stel’s unbreakable optimism is an immediate hook for the reader. As the cruelty of this future world reduces hope more and more, issue by issue, it can test the reader’s willingness to keep reading. But, true believers, the fifth (and final) volume totally delivers on the themes set up in those first few issues. The art and writing are beautiful. I was put off at first glance by the loose style and wild fish-eye perspectives. But, as I read on I was quickly converted as these aesthetic nuances pare so elegantly with the storytelling. The loose lines read as wet and slippery, and the wide-angle shots telegraph the feel of living an entire life nested in helmets and underwater globes. The massive world-building is a visual treat, and in the long-run the emotional story-arcs satisfy with a deeply human message.