Primordial #3
As Pemberton and Yelena try to set up for their next movie, Laika makes friends with Able and Mrs. Baker in Primordial #3, by writer Jeff Lemire, artist Andrea Sorrentino, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Steve Wands. It's hard to sum up this issue in a few words, but the best: it's incredible.
Laika tries to telepathically communicate with Able and Mrs. Baker while on Earth; Yelena begins to explain to Pemberton where to look for the animals. Dimitri barges in injured and lets them know the Russians are after them, and they leave the building as quickly as possible. In space, Able goes through Laika's process as Yelena and Pemberton make their to an abandoned Nazi missile works to try again. He communicates with Laika, and they try to plan out their next move as, on Earth, someone has found Yelena and Pemberton again.
This issue is heavier on plot than the last one, and it works. Yelena explains more of how she knows where the animals are, how she found Pemberton, both things that readers have been wondering about. Lemire does a great job of giving just enough to keep things moving forward without focusing too much on the events with Yelena and Pemberton to the detriment of the stuff with the animals. He also keeps these parts of the book exciting, letting readers feel the paranoia of the Russians chasing them. It works very well and makes the whole thing that much better.
The parts with the animals are the best part because of the way Lemire, Sorrentino, and Stewart work together. Much like the last issue, this is a lot of visual storytelling, and the difference in artistic styles is breathtaking. It all works so well, from the parts in the jungle with the monkeys to the pages with the cubes floating around, taking things apart and putting them together. It also really gets the reader wondering exactly what is going on up there. Who is doing this to the animals? Why are they doing it?
There are some fantastic double-page spreads in this book. Sorrentino has long been one of comics' most inventive pencilers, and this series is showing a different side of him than before. Stewart is the perfect color artist for him. The two make everything look sensational. Every page has something great to see. The difference in art styles, from the grainy colored, more typical Sorrentino pencil work of the scenes on Earth to the differences in coloring and pencil style in the sequences in outer space, really makes the story pop that much more. Lemire is letting Sorrentino and Stewart go crazy with the art, and it's wonderful.
Primordial #3 follows in the footsteps of the last issue. This comic is an amazing work of art and represents a creative at the top of their game, gelling together perfectly. Everyone needs to experience this comic.
