REVIEW: Antarctica #4 (of 5)

The story continues in issue 4 of Antarctica, our heroes face off against their dopple gangers in order to survive, or are they the dopplegangers?! Beautiful artic art, coupled with fantastic writing, great comedic timing, and stellar lettering work. Antarctica continues delivering wonderful installments issue after issue.

Following the gunshot we heard in the last issue, Matteo’s lover is no more, and the gang has to find a way to somehow get back to their world. In a very interesting use of LGBTQ+ representation and reveal, we become privy to the fact that one of the characters transitioned into a woman, whilst the dopple ganger stayed a man. I think this was a wonderful way of having a bit of LGBTQ+ representation without making it a hugely important part of the story. In my personal opinion, when the gender identity of the characters is apparent but not necessary to tell a good story, then that’s when you’re doing it right. If your story pivots entirely on whether a certain character is a man, a woman, or a non-conforming human, the story can get boring quickly. This all being said, I do wish they had mentioned the character’s name at least once on this page, I’m sure it’s been mentioned before, but having to go back and find their name, defeats the purpose of having such a wonderful character development moment. Twice the amount of character is on the page, and all we hear is Matteo’s name XD, just a funny little thing that got through the cracks. The story continues however, and we learn that the reason that “dopples” are killing og’s, is because when they do energy is released and it can be used to travel between worlds, a fascinating premise that would no doubt solve at least one of dimensional travel’s many difficulties.

This is one of those stories that continues to surprise me. The writing is well-paced, and whilst the story itself could be truly convoluted; because they are talking about parallel worlds, it still somehow manages to remain straightforward and very easy to read through. The tension is high on this issue with the death of Phillip and now that we know why people are being killed, the stakes continue to rise as we can only imagine that in the end, only one version of the characters must survive for dimensional travel to occur. Overall, it is a serious comic, but it also has very well-placed comedic moments that help ease the tension and keep you hooked as you read. It is not so serious that you are scared of knowing what happens next, but also not funny enough that you dismiss everything as a joke. It sits in the middle of an adventure comic, and a dramatic story with humorous scenes. In this particular issue, there is only one joke but it landed perfectly for me and it comes in the form of “positively apocalyptic”. Such a wonderful phrase, “How can an apocalypse be positive?” you may be asking, well I don’t know either, so we’ll have to wait for the next issue to find out. A joke that works as a cliffhanger, how truly fantastic.

Artwise I continue to have issues with the faces, however, this deep into the narrative I can look passed it and just enjoy the rest of the comic. Which, let me tell you, has a lot to be enjoyed. The action moments are stellar, and the way artist Willi Robers handles colors makes me want to read all the stuff they’ve ever done. There is one particular panel (which happens to be the cliffhanger joke and actually isn’t a panel at all) that is colored in such a way that the previous panel shows a camera’s view of all the characters with a green tonality. Next to it, we see a half-body shot of the character that retains the rim-lighting of the previous panel’s room, which makes it feel as if the character was inside the room even though on the actual page, it is completely on the white background. That’s some innovative coloring and panel layout right there. Speaking of panels that really caught my attention; in this comic, we have probably the sickest kick-in-the-nuts moment I’ve ever seen in comics. With a back-to-back, two-panel shot of a WHACK in the willies, followed by the character holding his groin in pain we are instantly reminded of how no matter how strong a man may be, their one weak point is constantly at the mercy of a good pair of boots. Last but not least, in my list of fantastic comic moments, is when Dr.Curtis points a gun at Yun. This particular panel really made me stop in my tracks while I was reading. It is only a 1/3th illustration, but it is so close-up and so perfectly detailed that you can instantly feel the fear in Yun’s eyes as he stares down the fingers of Dr.Curtis clutching the trigger, truly fantastic panel layout. One minor issue however with this panel, despite its wonderful emotional evocation, is that the finger is as blocky as Minecraft’s characters and I think that could have been done a little bit better, but hey the emotion has been evoked regardless of that little detail so props to you all.

Lyndon White’s lettering continues to be wonderful and flawlessly executed. Great fonts, wonderful word balloons that all look hand-drawn, and stellar use of narration boxes, radio balloons, and my personal favorite, the offset outline SFX text. I really love that font they are using for some of these sound fx’s it feels like a brush and it’s so refreshing to see it next to the rest of the text which for the most part is very comic-friendly and the type of font that I’ve seen many comics used in the past. A sanserif font that is 2 parts serious and 1 part cartoony arial, works well always. Special mention to that “WHACK” in the nuts I previously mentioned, the way the W crosses at the intersection for some reason feels that much more painful when I read it.

Without a doubt, this is another stellar job by the Antarctica team, and I cannot wait to see what that positive apocalypse amounts to be. I’m excited to continue reading and seeing how this arc comes to an end in issue 5.

Writing: 5 Stars
Art: 4.5 Stars
Colors: 5 Stars

Overall: 5 Stars

Written by: Simon Birks

Art by: Willi Roberts
Lettering by: Lyndon White

Cover art by: Willi Roberts

Variant Covers by: Koi Turnbull, John Starr & Giuseppe Cafaro
Published by: Top Cow

Reviewed by Antonio “Mabs”