Rat City #5 // Review
Dr. Boze was asked to meet with the chairman. He had been working on something for a long time. There had been a great deal of resources that had been poured into his research. The chairman didn’t seem to understand it. He didn’t seem to have the right perspective. Dr. Boze had to adapt. Things had to change. Some of the substance of that change is explored in Rat City #5. Writer Erica Schultz continues a fun sci-fi serial with artist Zé Carlos. Color adds mood and atmosphere to the page courtesy of Jay David Ramos.
Dr. Boze and his lab didn’t have to go with the changes. They WERE understandably frustrated that they had to suddenly change course, but they could have gone back into academia if they’d really wanted to. They didn’t exactly like the thought of exiting the private sector, though. If they left their positions, they would be leaving the largest corporation in the world. There WOULD be repercussions for their careers if they were to do something like that. It wasn’t a decision to be taken lightly. Dr. Ammon is particularly upset. Shoot ahead to present day and Dr. Ammon is entering and apartment and pointing a gun at someone. Things are about to get ugly.
Schultz’ work with the corporate drama and intrigue are interesting enough on the surface level. The verbal drama doesn’t exactly light-up the page, though. There might have been ways to amplify that drama for the comic book format, but the overall energy of the issue doesn’t really pick-up until after Ammon enters the apartment with the gun. The underlying theme of adaptation by any means necessary IS interesting to see played-out on a variety of different levels, but things get pulled a bit too far in the direction of the action when the violence finally settles-in. Deeper “adapt-or-die” matters don’t really resonate with all fhe monsters, slashing and bloodshed.
Not that the monsters, slashing and bloodshed aren’t fun. They are. Carlos and Ramos do an excellent job of bringing the fangs and drools and bloodshed to page and panel in a way that feels kind of novel. This is a bit weird as this IS a comic book set in the Spawn Universe and that sort of thing has really piled-up in the pages of Spawn comic books over the years. Perhaps it’s the distinctive way that Carlos is framing the action. Or maybe it’s the luminescent haze that Ramos is bringing to it all. Or maybe it’s just the fact that it’s all preceded by tense person-to-person verbal drama. Whatever it is, it might not quite reach what Schultz is going for, but it DOES look interesting.
Rat City has been an interesting experiment in the Spawn Universe that seems to be drawing it in a direction that’s a lot more interesting than most of the rest of what has been going on in the franchise. Given the right momentum, it could really turn into something fantastic. As it is, though, it doesn’t quite manage a fully realized expansion of all the monsters and mayhem.
Grade: B
