Ascender #11 // Review
Mila's crew keeps growing in Ascender #11, by writer Jeff Lemire, artist Dustin Nguyen, and letterer Steve Wands. This issue explains the return of a fan-favorite character, gets the ball rolling on the next phase of the story, and has some cool action.
Mizerd explains to Mila, Tesla, and Helda what he and Driller have been doing since the day the Descenders came and how they ended up to be where they are and meeting the group. Bandit and Driller have a reunion, and Mizerd tells Telsa that he and Driller will be joining, just Blinkless, Mother's flying spies, find them. On Matu, Mother's Sister brutalizes her some more. Mother tries to fight back but is easily beaten and tells her sister that her forces will never listen to anyone but her. Her sister tells her that's the only reason she's still alive. Back on Sampson, the vampires attack the ship as Telsa and Helda repair it, and Driller jumps into action, delaying the vampires long enough for the ship to take off. In space, a Gnish ship detects them leaving and begins its pursuit.
Lemire and company deliver a fun little issue. Seeing Driller again is great, and watching him get to cut loose against the vampires is a lot of fun. Driller has always been a killer (a real killer), so fighting the vampires is perfect for him- there's pretty much nothing they can do to him, and he can go to town on them. Also, the end sequence is pretty nerve-racking for readers because they don't know if Driller is going to make it on the ship as it flies off or not. Lemire has done a great job of keeping the book unpredictable, and the fact that it still works says something about how good he is.
One of the book's most interesting parts is when Mizerd tells Mila that he senses big magic coming from her. Mila hasn't had any good experiences with magic, so she's extremely resistant and counters that she'd rather be like her father or Telsa. However, it's very intriguing that she would be a magic user, especially seeing as how her parents were the opposite of that, especially her mother. It looks like Mizerd will serve as a mentor to her, and that brings a whole new dimension to the book.
Dustin Nguyen's art is fantastic, but there are a few places where the watercolor coloring gets a little muddy and obscures his line work. However, the action scene of Driller killing vampires looks great. The pages with Mother and her Sister are beautiful, and the ship leaving Sampson's atmosphere and entering space is majestic.
Ascender #11 does a beautiful job of starting the third story arc. Lemire sets up some intriguing things- will Mila take magic? What's the source of magic Sister is looking for? Will the King Of Gnish, a shiftless teenager, harm our heroes or work against Mother's edicts? Except for some coloring obscuring his line work, Nguyen's art is wonderful, as always. Ascender #11 starts the next phase of Mila's journey with another fabulous issue.
Grade: B+
