#IReadsYou Review: SURFACING #9

SURFACING #9
APPROBATION COMICS

STORY: B. Alex Thompson – @ApproBAT
ART: Nato Magalhães
COLORS: Santtos
LETTERS: Krugos with Jahch & J< Yellodragon
EDITORS: Denise Thompson and John Ward
MISC. ART: Cesar Grego with Alivon Ortiz
COVER: Cesar Grego with Alivon Ortiz
24pp, Color, $4.99 U.S.

Rated: “M” for Mature

“Psychic Touch”

Surfacing is a comic book franchise created by B. Alex Thompson and published by Approbation Comics.  The four-issue miniseries, Surfacing: Depth Perceptions, focuses on a series of encounters, sometimes violent, between humans and mermaid-like creatures.  The eponymous Surfacing is an anthology series in which each issue offers a story in which a mermaid finds herself trapped in or confronting the world of humans.

One of the more recent standalone Surfacing stories is “Psychic Touch.”  It is written by Thompson, drawn by Nato Magalhães; colored by Santtos; and lettered by Krugos with Jahch & J< Yellodragon.

Surfacing #9 (“Psychic Touch”) opens in an unnamed city.  An unnamed young man sits on his bed while using his laptop to search the job listings at a website named “KruJobs.”  He doesn't find anything of interest until he comes across a listing for “Local Paid Clinical Trial.”  The next morning, he is at a medical building where a bizarre surgery is performed upon him.  A few hours later, he has the ability to sense the feelings and emotions of others.  That leads to good things, bad things, and strange things when he meets some creatures of fantasy and myth.

THE LOWDOWN:  I enjoyed the miniseries, Surfacing: Depth Perceptions, very much.  However, I prefer the ongoing Surfacing series, not only because it is an anthology, but also because it really showcases B. Alex Thompson's imaginative storytelling.

On occasion, Thompson has written stories that go right over my head, which “Psychic Touch” does, to an extent.  “Psychic Touch” does not have any dialogue, but it is not a pantomime comic because it does have caption boxes and lettering effects.  Thompson offers an interesting concept, but the mermaid elements seem not thrown in so much as out of place.  Still, I think this premise does merit further exploration.

The art team of illustrator Nato Magalhães and colorist Santtos are good for this story, partly because their art is similar to Surfacing's regular art team of Ricardo Mendez and Alivon Ortiz.  Magalhães' compositions capture the vague but menacing atmosphere of this premise while Santtos' colors capture the shifting emotional states of the characters and also how jarring the changes in settings and environments in this story can be.  In conveying how overwhelming emotions and feelings can be for a psychic, Krugos and company successful pull that off in an interesting style.

I recommend Surfacing #9 to regular readers of this series, and I think readers looking for something offbeat will also like it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of fantasy comic books published by DC Comics' late imprint, Vertigo, will want to read Surfacing.

B+
7 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/ApproBAT
www.ApprobationComics.com
www.AlexThompsonWriter.com


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