Review: Echoes #5 (of 5)

Brian Cohn has been arrested for the murder of a child, a murder he didn’t commit. His life has always been a struggle, fraught with mental abuse and later — full blown schizophrenia. So it is difficult for him to fathom just how he got into this mess, let alone why the detective assigned to the case just slid him a razor blade from across the police precinct interrogation table. Maybe it has something to do with the fact Detective Robert Neville enjoys making stitch work dolls out of little girls bodies.

Chapter five of Echoes is as disturbing and prolific as the first four issues were. It entices you to follow along as a man is slowly dragged into a situation he has literally no control over, and we as readers, get to sit back and enjoy every grotesque moment.  Joshua Hale Fiakov has created a world that makes you question preconceptions of the genre. “Of course the schizo did it, he was off his meds man!” But within the pages of Echoes, the flaws of a disturbed man do not make him the typical deranged killer, on the contrary, he becomes the perfect scapegoat for someone far more cunning than he would ever be. The notion that those with mental instabilities are to be feared while people of authority are to be revered as heroes in the eyes of a community are thrown away — leaving a feeling of paranoia that subtly settles into your psyche. Those that are to protect us from villainy just have better skills on how to get away with the very things they are trained to stop. It is a notion that has been done many times before, but in such an intimate medium as comics — it becomes far more disheartening and realistic.

I have said it before during my review for issue three, but Rahsan Ekedal is an artistic genius that sets up a page layout like no other! The splash page that encompass pages two and three, tells the entire sadistic story of Det. Neville without a single word. Each individual box shows an aspect seen somewhere within the past four issues but reveals just how malicious and diabolical Det. Neville has been “behind the scenes” of this twisted tale. It is a rare artistic concept concocted by an artist that is grossly under appreciated. 

Marvel keeps telling us at the CBN offices to vote with our dollars — well I have! My four bucks goes to a book that is not written by a conglomerate at a weekend retreat. It goes to a book that has minimal press, a smaller print line and a far better product than anything I have seen in awhile from the big two! So I am taking this time to implore you to pick up this book! If you can’t find the first couple of issues, it’s okay, the trade will be out soon and I beg you to pick one up. Fialkov has said he has ideas for an Echoes Vol. 2, but it is up to us to help that come to fruition. So, second guess that sixteenth Wolverine book and pick up something that will shock your perceptions of what a comic should be.

This is not just Horror at it’s best — it’s comics at it’s best!