When the walls start closing in, you gotta dig, dig?

Faith can be a funny thing.  What is the test of it?  Knowing the scripture verbatim?  Having the certainty of “right” when there’s no evidence to support it?  I’ve always seen faith and religion as ways that people can calibrate their moral compass. Why else go to church so often?  After a time, you know the stories, you know that the commandments and decrees often butt up against what you want in your life, but need reminded so that you can ask for forgiveness after the fact.  What if your calibration is off a touch?  What if the “faith” becomes warped little by little over time, transforming right into righteousness without foundation. It’s an unmooring of responsibility, because, suddenly, the lesson aligns with how you really feel and pushes you past the trepidation you may have had.

Writer Simon Spurirer runs Ennay into a situation very much like this, having him escape more secular threats to his well-being.  This issue displays the economy of his writing, wasting not a moment of space in service of the story.  What is a commonly used trope of a “hide in here” sequence becomes a crucible for the action, taking what seems to be a break before dropping houses once again.  We get a half-reveal on the final panel, which will only draw us to want issue 4 to get here that much more quickly.  I love the journey of this issue. I’s immersive to the world, showing us more of the beauty and ugliness that lies within it.  There’s also a humanity to it; sorrows don’t completely drown out joys. In fact, they make them more welcome for the characters and us.  Spurrier’s world building continues to impress, and I’m always stoked to know where the next piece of the puzzle is.

Jonas Goonface is still slaying it with his evocative artwork.  There’s nothing that I’m not in love with. It just seems to make sense, and I truly can’t imagine this world any other way.  There’s a sense of the faux-fluidity of mid-’90s cartoons like Tiny Toon Adventures and the like, with subtle and appropriate warping of reality that allows the mind to unquestionably leap alongside the characters off the page and into your mind.

I’m still all about this series, and I can’t wait to get the next issue.  If’ you’re looking for something with fun, danger, and great laughs, then you ought to join me on this one.

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