Whispers #2

Hmm, let's hope for something better from this post, 'cause that last one didn't do it for me...

Whispers #2:

Summary: This issue starts off with Sam deciding not to spy on Lily while having his out of body experience. Instead, he “sees” a demon eat a baby, which is shocking enough to wake him up. Sam decides to tell Lily about his new powers, but seeing as that she's trying to care for her injured father, she doesn't have the time, nor the patience to listen to Sam's stories. Sam heads back to his apartment and is met by his neighbor, a woman named Cali. Cali invites Sam into her apartment and naturally Sam tells her all about his nocturnal adventures... And she believes every word(!?). Cali recommends that Sam tries to figure out what the hell was going on with that demon, as opposed to fooling around with the minds of people he knew. Taking Cali's advice, that evening, Sam goes to sleep and decides to try to find the demon. This issue ends with Sam discovering that the demon was inhabiting the body of a businessman, and that the demon had it's eyes on a little girl.

Thoughts: This is such an odd series... I'm not quite sure what I think of it, if that makes any sense... I mean, it's definitely interesting, and the inclusion of the demon definitely spices things up, but I can't say I care much for any of the main characters. Sam is different, but not really all that interesting. Neither is Lily. We only just met Cali, so I can't say much about her. And Sam's acquaintances from last issue? They didn't show up in this one, so yeah, the baby-eating demon is the most interesting character in this comic right now... How weird is that?

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

If eating babies is good enough for Wolverine, it's good enough for this thing.

Whispers #1

Now we'll take a step off the beaten road(I've been using the phrase a lot lately...) and take a look at the first issue of Whispers, which is written and drawn by Joshua Luna and published by Image. With the way Marvel and DC have been pricing their books(Marvel!) and using inferior writers(DC!), expect to see a lot of Image, Dark Horse, Boom!, and other indie comic company's books spotlighted here at the blog. You never know when you'll find that diamond in the rough.

Whispers #1:

What Happened: We meet a guy named Sam Webber, who, besides having Obsessive-compulsive disorder, has been having very strange dreams lately... In these dreams, he can seemingly watch people and events that are taking place while he's asleep. Sam tells his circle of friends this news, but his friends, including his ex-girlfriend, Lily(they have that, “still friends” thing going on), see this as crazy Sam acting, well, crazy. Seeing as that Sam's friends have real problems, they aren't exactly keen on listening to Sam's idiocy, so he ends up leaving. Later that night, Sam goes to sleep and sure enough finds himself able to leave his body. He floats around aimlessly for a bit, before he realizes that he could teleport his ghost form to others. Sam first goes to see his mother(who he's estranged from), and is surprised to learn that he can “hear” her thoughts, and can, to a mild degree, influence them. From there, Sam finds an ex-girlfriend named Vanessa, who is in trouble with a drug dealer after stealing drugs from the dealer. Sam nervously manages to get Vanessa to promise to pay the dealer back for the stolen merchandise, while Sam wonders if he should have interfered at all. This issue ends with Sam heading to Lily's home and standing outside wondering if he should intrude on her.

The Good: The concept here was very interesting. Even after just this one issue, Joshua Luna has presented Sam as a very well-rounded character. I don't believe I've ever read a comic book where the lead has OCD, so that's different. Even though we didn't see too much of them, we did get to learn a bit about Sam's circle of friends, namely Lily and Rico.

The Bad: The cliffhanger was... odd... It doesn't exactly get me pumped for the next issue. I mean didn't Sam spy on Lily the prior night? Unless she's sleeping with Rico, I don't get what would be so exciting in her home that warranted the story ending there.

The Verdict: This was a very good comic. The premise is interesting, and I'm curious to see what Sam does with his strange powers. So while the end of this issue didn't really set my world on fire, I'll definitely be picking up the second issue(which drops in March I believe) to see what happens next.

Score: 8 out of 10.The terrible things I'd do if I had sleep telepathy......