From its inception, No One’s Rose has always subverted and continuously broken down its own world with great fervor. Where most writers are eager to uphold a status quo that they worked hard to establish, Zac Thompson and Emily Horn have been a masterclass in not only world building, but through world breaking of their creation in every single issue.
While this book has never been known to uphold the boundaries of general science fiction, No One’s Rose manages to give everyone a sense of hope and prosperity within the medium. It is a genuine rare moment when I can actually feel like a truly positive direction is happening in societies that experience an apocalypse. It’s even more difficult to feel positive when the apocalypse I’m reading has been caused by an environmental crisis of our own making.
In its last issue, No One’s Rose has managed to never pull its punches. The ingenuity of each issue has been a marvelous narrative set of gymnastics with how this creative team has managed to carry their character’s through-line with the exasperated world they must navigate. It’s been like reading a brand new concept and world with each issue, most of it having a high social relevance that comic book scholars will for sure be dissecting for years to come.
Alberto Alburquerque’s art is simply awesome. His work is so dynamic and fun and boisterous and all that good stuff, but it’s also just deeply indebted to serving the characters. It’s forgotten by many artists that they’re serving to properly render both a world and its characters, but it eventually is lost in certain pages. Alburquerque continuously ramps up the line work all the way to the end. His Eastern influences blended with sci-fi really magnify his care in crafting this narrative.
Blending this into a further emotional experience is the colors by Raul Angulo. His wash of color in these great shades and fades with all these visually unique hues that complement each other really allow for some stellar panels that are reminiscent of paintings found at a museum atop Alburquerque’s linework. For lettering, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou has managed to utilize this great bit of blending his letters atop the line art as a flair for each panel. The design by Tim Daniel is another unsung hero of this comic with the way everything has been laid out with such glamour.
No One’s Rose has been a magnificent story, holding its reader accountable for our societal norms. This is a book that goes into looking at how our society can improve amongst all our doubts — something we may need now more than ever.
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