Today I’m doing a review on my first indie comic on Coffee, Cannabis and Comics; Rain, a 5 issue run by Joe Hill, David M. Booher, Zoe Thorogood, & Chris O’Halloran + Syzygy Publishing. When I first went to my local comic book shop, I wanted to make sure I picked up at least 2 unfamiliar comics. What I meant was I didn’t want to get the traditional superhero comics and instead try something from an independent publishing company.
I was looking all over the shop for Saga, an indie comic my buddies Ben and Cassie highly recommended, I finally found it but right next to it was Rain. The cover caught my eye, the art and the treatment of the title; particularly the R and A since they were both filled in.
As a reminder I will be basing my review on the following:
Cover Art
Story
Overall Rating 5 star rating system from Comic Geeks App
It was interesting how the covers made so much more sense after I read the issue. I felt that they were creative in how much of the story they were giving away as well as how to show it in a minimalist style.
Cover Issue #1 This cover is by the artist of the book as well, Zoe Thorogood and it’s the one that drew me in. I figured it was a love story but what was really interesting was the beam going through their hearts. Zoe Thorogood also created the covers for issues 2-5 which I picked up over the next couple weeks.
Cover Issue #2 Some noticeable changes on here from the first cover, one person is gone and the same color garment is now covered in blood and the remaining person is crying.
Cover Issue #3 The third cover felt the most heartbreaking to me because of the child as the main focus with a beat up, crappy old umbrella, with the reoccurring beam coming through.
Cover Issue #4 This one felt slightly different from the previous three as it was more blues and greens as opposed to the warmth of the oranges and reds. Also we see the person holding a letter and a rope covered in spikes, interesting.
Cover Issue #5 Now the fifth cover was the last issue of the run but also the one that deviated the most from the white negative space of previous issues. But having it covered in red I think was a great idea and still follows the layout from the previous issues.
Check out the covers of RAIN issues 1-5 below.
Story As I previously stated, I wanted to pick up some indie titles and man what a series to start with. I honestly had no idea what this story would be about going into it. I saw the cover, flipped through to one page that showed a bunch of people dying with what looked like ice rain of some sort. I thought it was pretty crazy but was really drawn in by the art as well as the colors from that particular spread.
Issue 1 We start off in the story with Honeysuckle waiting for her girlfriend Yolanda, to arrive at her place in Denver from Boulder, they were moving in together(it was pretty funny to open this up and see Boulder/Denver since I live in the area). We learn a bit of background story that coming out to their parents were two different stories, one family very accepting, the other not. Luckily Yolanda’s parents were very welcoming to Honeysuckle and said they would be her second family if needed.
Now during this time while we get backstory, Honeysuckle is talking about how the first day of the rain caught everyone off guard… It was foreshadowing that I thought we would learn about later.
Spoiler alert, do not continue if you want to pick up the issues.
The spread right before we see everyone stabbed to death with some weird crystalized rain…
But what happened was as we are moving through the story and Honeysuckle is talking about the rain in past tense, we see it actually happen. It was a TOTAL different approach that I was not expecting. So as we build up and learn about Honeysuckle and Yolanda’s relationship and get sucked in only to have our hearts ripped out when we find out that Honeysuckle is in fact retelling the event. You’re left turning the pages to see Honeysuckle go from yelling, “Yolanda!” to seeing Yolanda get stabbed by the rain and then the next page all black black with a simple message from Honeysuckle as the narrator, “Like I said, when the rain fell, most everyone was caught outside in it.” Cut to the last page of Yolanda dead.
Honestly I should have for seen this happening for how the story was building up the relationship; I just didn’t think it would happen so early in the story.
PHEW! What a wild ride in just the first issue!
I highly recommend picking this up as the rest of the story continues to draw you in and hit you with twists like no other. With Yolanda and her mother gone and no way to let Yolanda’s dad know about what happened, Honeysuckle sets on trek to Denver, Colorado from Boulder to deliver the news. But along this apocalyptic journey we learn more about the current events, could someone actually be responsible for making the sky rain down glass??
One of the beginning spreads of issue #1 in which we get a first instance of weird weather…
Overall Rating I give this a 4/5. The cover designs were great and I really like the art style; I think what I liked about it is that it is different from the other comics I am currently reading. The actual story, I liked it. A lot. I was gasping turning the pages so much that my wife looked at me and asked, “Are you ok over there?”
The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 out of 5 is because of how abrupt it ended and left me wanting to know more. There was so much jam packed at the end that it felt a bit rushed. I’m still OK with the ending but just think they could have continued it.
If you’re a cannabis consumer like me and like to keep track of your consumption, be sure to check out Chronicle below.
