I have waited months for Ether to begin again, and when I saw the name of this story arc – The Disappearance of Violet Bell – I gasped. Not Violet!

Boone Dias is a scientist who became entwined and addicted to a parallel world called the Ether. It’s a place where magic exists, but like a self-described Indiana Jones-Sherlock Holmes mash up, Boone has taken it upon himself to be the number one detective of this world – solving problems for magical beings with science. So, on one hand, you have this science fiction adventure.

On the other hand, you have the tragedy of Boone Dias, a man who is full of himself to the point that he has failed the people he loves the most, so that he can be a hero to Ether. It’s no wonder that to enter the Ether, you have to essentially complete suicide. There is a two-page series of panels that will devastate the reader in all of the right ways in this issue, largely due to David Rubín’s exquisitely emotional artwork.

This has been a series of high adventure and of devastating emotional story beats. Now, Dias has a chance to make some of it right. The stakes are high.

Before finding out that Violet Bell has gone missing, we are introduced to some pretty incredible mythology of the seven gods that inhabit the world of the Ether. You want world building? Matt Kindt will give you world building. You want that world building to look weird and delicious? Rubín will knock it out of the park.

I can’t give this series enough praise.

I can, however, say from experience that you should never dream about being Boone Dias. After reading this issue, I took a short nap, had a dream that I was in the Ether as Boone Dias, and it really did stress me out. It wasn’t like my Spider-Man dreams where I swing into action. I’ll stick to reading about Dias… Honestly, it’s a pretty great place to be.

Creative Team: Matt Kindt (writer), David Rubín (art, letters), Daniel Chabon (editor), Brett Israel (assistant editor), Mike Richardson (publisher), Anita Magaña (designer), Josie Christensen (digital art technician)
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
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