REVIEW: Motherlands #5

Comics“ reviewers are constantly wading into narratives “in medias res,”“ forcing us to regularly assess a story“s value without perfect information; we read a lot but no reviewer can read everything. In terms of the reviewing process this inevitably produces mixed results. But overtime the “in medias res”“ phenomenon helps to cultivate a certain set of skills ”“ skills that hopefully make the reviewer a better writer and a more equitable critic.

Vertigo“s Motherlands, written by Si Spurrier and brilliantly rendered by Rachael Stott and Felipe Sobreiro, definitely deserves to be read in full. Motherlands #5 opens in the midst of this story arc“s central conflict, a strange family reunion (of sorts) that finds the protagonist, Tabitha coming to terms with her mother, Selena“s maniacal machinations. It is almost too easy to spoil what ends up being a stand-alone classic of a comic in a series that earns its “for-mature-readers”“ label effortlessly.

The language and some of the content is certainly for adult readers only. If profanity offends you, you probably shouldn“t pick up this book, but none of the language or situations here are gratuitous. And the words are all, beautifully and distinctly, crafted by letterer, Simon Bowland. The panel structure is similarly well-executed, interpolating flashback sequences seamlessly into the current narrative without skipping a gutter.

Motherlands is a sci-fi, spacey thriller featuring contract killers and killer technology conglomerates whose tangled webs of corruption and evildoing only really matter, because family matters. Or, more specifically, the relationships between family (and lovers) matter most in this issue and likely in the series itself. It“s no spoiler to announce here that Motherlands #5 concedes the fact that all relationships must come to an end and that heartbreak is often the result of terminal relationships. But since all relationships have some kind of ending ”“ betrayal, break-up, accident, terminal illness and death, etc. ”“ Tab“s mom (Selena) instructs her (and us) to: “Never stop. No matter how much it hurts.”“

Even writing that quote hurts a bit because of the universal truth it exposes in the complicated tapestry of human relations/relationships. To stop, in this sense and in this intense exchange between mother and daughter, means to come to a certain end in and of itself. You“d think that in order to fully appreciate this moment in Motherlands #5 readers would need the background and build up of the previous four issues. They don“t. They should, of course get onboard for the entire series, but Si Spurrier and company have done a masterful job of building this colorful, quirky world in each issue. Any issue in its run, up to this point, will provide the narrative and visual immersion necessary for readers to experience the essence of Motherlands: the essential truth that family matters ”“ before, after, and during one“s mortal existence. 4.5/5.

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(W) Si Spurrier (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Eric Canete