The fifth & penultimate issue of Limbo hits shelves today and creators Dan Watter & Caspar Wijngaard haven’t shied away from mixing things up at this late stage.
While those four previous issues kept things moving along with Clay as the main focus the events of last issue have brought us to a point where a bigger reveal is on the cards. The fate of Clay and his return from the dead into an unknown city, in an unknown world where he doesn’t know anything about himself has suddenly been shown as less than accidental……in fact, there are far higher powers at work and they’ve selected our world weary central character as their pawn.
A rigged game may be but that doesn’t stop his friend Sandy doing her best to pit her wits against those on a completely different realm to our own in an attempt to save the day. At first this whole new concept felt a bit jarring but as the story behind the story begins to unravel the “ahhhhhh” and “I seeeeeee” moments came thick and fast for me. It was at this point that it donned on me just how “big” this story was and could become with more possibilities at stake than just our memory-challenged, hard-nosed detective….although safe to say that Clay is now spiralling deeper and deeper into the unknown.
Although just as that realization started to sink in their was the curveball return of a recognizable action figure to add another dimension to an already warped chapter in the tale. As the messenger and to act as an anchor for Sandy to the real/unreal world it’s Mado The Barbarian’s chance to shine and usher each of the stories and all of our characters onward to the final piece of the puzzle.
It’s another glorious issue of Limbo with raw inventiveness on offer yet again and barring this being derailed for the final issue I can’t see this being anything other than a classic Image release. One issue to go and while the momentum had me thinking I knew where we were going it’s this issue that sets the control firmly back in the hands of it’s creators…..and I’m fucked if I know where & how this one will end….which turns out to be the best kind of title to be reading. Caspar gets his chance to up his game in this issue as limitations seem to be non-existent, allowing his mind to pour out whatever he wants onto the page and it all just works straight through to the static-filled ending that helps leave us on a cliffhanger for the 6th & final issue. Mado also gets a slick one-page story courtesy of Ryan O’Sullivan & Plaid Klaus that has that “thought of the day” vibe to it that all great action figure/cartoon’s had right?? I sense a spin-off opportunity for this one too……and I’m on-board if that’s an option.
It’s five issues down with one to go and it’s another release that proves how diverse Image Comics is with it’s titles and it’s even better when we’ve lucked out with a gem like Limbo that can hopefully embrace it’s cult-like appeal and keep on trucking. Warped, different but ultimately entertaining……..the creative team behind it have messed with my head more than once…..and I’m OK with that.
Check out the series over on the Image Comics website – You can check out more of Caspar’s art over on his facebook page and you can keep tabs on him & Dan over on Twitter too:
COMICS ANONYMOUS 