Review: Hypernaturals #5
Published by Boom! Studios
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Art by Tom Derenick and Andres Guinaldo
The Plot
Our story begins at the Planet Nth 16 years ago with a youth named Poul Indersun. An individual from Doc-Q-mentary named Hemming is there to interview him despite the protests of other citizens. Poul shares different views of the Quantinuum that differ from those of his kin, which leads to a big revelation from him. Fast forward to the present and Poul (now Thinkwell) is blasting Shoal and Half-shell for their involvement with a gang fight the previous issue. After a little bit of hypocrisy, Thinkwell decides that they must all go to the Quantinuum to check on what happened during the event that was shown at the beginning of the previous issue (the Chernovski Event). Thinkwell determines that they must find Clone 21 because she might hold the key to the events that occurred. In the meantime, Prismatica is breaking Sublime out of prison as part of a mutually beneficial agreement. After some investigating, Sublime decides upon a course of action. Thinkwell, Bewilder, Clone 45, and the two rookies then travel to New Faithful and successfully track down Clone 21. After a brief skirmish a surprising incident occurs and they come under fire from an unidentified group.
The Breakdown
This issue started to take some different turns and now I’m not completely sure what’s going to happen. I figured that I connected the dots last issue, but after reading this comic I was wrong. This made me very happy. I enjoyed the introduction of the young Thinkwell and even how he was visually different. All too often, people are depicted as being younger with a different hairstyle or lack of facial hair. Poul looked like a younger version of Thinkwell, which shouldn’t be a big deal…but it just doesn’t happen too often in comics. I am also interested in Thinkwell’s background because something obviously happened that changed him in some ways from his youth to the present. Also, there is more detail in his powerset that includes the manipulation of the dark matter. The Sublime character just got a whole lot more interesting as well in this issue. Up to this point he’s been portrayed as someone with all the answers. Clone 21 was a badass last issue and many decades later she still is. Visually the Quantinuum AI was impressive to look at as the design was very creative. The characters still continue to have distinct features that distinguish them. This is a big deal as well because hairstyles, hair colours, and costumes are all that differentiate characters from one another. There were more answers this issue, which was great because it helped to create more anticipation for the story. I am also looking forward to seeing the Hypernaturals in action as I haven’t really seen them fight thus far. The art continues to be solid overall and there are some pretty strong panels. How Derenick draws the Quantinuum AI was great as it was vast and complex. I am really looking forward to the next issue.
BUT…
The art definitely had some weak spots. There were some really rushed looking panels here and there. Prismatica really came across as a rookie rather than a veteran. There’s a mention in the Quantinuum AI that may or may not be a direct contradict something that happens later in the story. This is a slight concern, but nothing major yet as it could be explained next issue.
Buy It, Borrow It, Shelf Read It, or Ignore It?
Buy it. This story is slowly being crafted and there is more depth because of that. Some answers have been provided, which have lead to more questions. However, it’s done in a way that makes you anticipate whatever is coming up and not in a Lost sort of way where you have almost absolutely no idea what’s going on. I can’t wait until this series is 24 issues in and I can re-read the previous issues again. This story is getting bigger and better and it’s definitely worth checking out. DnA have continued to flesh out this universe that they’ve created and it’s great to see them be able to cut loose with their creator-owned title.
