Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan have a real knack for getting at primal, almost childlike fears. This is a talent they deployed to great effect in last year’s Kill Your Darlings, and I had a feeling their newest work would hit a similar spooky sweet spot as soon as it was announced — and I was absolutely correct.
Blink and You’ll Miss It is off to an intriguing start, largely because it focuses on more on setting a tone and dropping us into a journey in progress, rather than hitting us with a ton of exposition and world-building. We get a great feel for our protagonist, even if we don’t quite know what she’s after at this early stage. We know that she’s come home after a long time away, and although people say “you can’t go home again,” they neglected to mention that things can be much scarier if they’re exactly the way you left them. It’s difficult to get too deep into describing this first issue, because much of it reads like the comic book equivalent of trying to describe a dream to someone after you’ve just awakened. By the end of the first issue, a mystery and a love story are taking shape, but the details are fuzzy beyond the outline.
What I can say is that the narration is beautifully written, giving us an idea of the danger that lurks around each corner, but without quite telling us what the danger is. There are a handful of moments here that show us the past of this town, but much of the issue is spent setting the main rescue plot line in motion. In some ways, it feels like the issue ends just as it gets going, but the vibes are so immaculate that it’s hard to complain too much.
BOOM! Studios
The artwork from Keith Browning and Brad Simpson is exquisitely moody, particularly in the ways in which the scenery goes from wide open highways and mountain vistas and slowly begins to close in on our protagonist. Jesse’s body language conveys so much about this character that we’re still getting to know, and you get a sense that she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. While much of the story takes place in a seemingly normal town, there are moments here and there that show us its dark supernatural underbelly. The quick glimpses of inhuman creatures have me excited to see what ghouls this team can cook up in future issues, while one splash page showing the town square brought to mind Ned Dameron’s iconic Stephen King illustrations (trust me, you’ll know it when you see it).
Like a half-remembered dream, however, Blink and You’ll Miss It is able to leave readers with plenty of emotions. You always remember how a dream made you feel, even if you’re unclear on the exact beats or logic of the story. This book accomplishes a similar feat, making the reader care about the pair at the center of the story before we even completely understand what these two stand to lose or gain. And much like a recurring dream that I’m trying to decipher, I’m already waiting impatiently for the next issue, eager to see and understand more of this world.
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