Ask for Mercy, Season 3: A World of Disquiet
When you join a comic series in the middle, it’s sometimes hard to catch yourself up. This can cause one of two different reactions. It can inspire you to buy the issues you missed so that the one you were trying to read makes more sense. Or it can frustrate you where you stop and move on. Of course, the best of both worlds is that the writer does such a good job that you can follow along WITHOUT needing to read the previous ones. When that happens, the reader generally wants to read the previous issues just because the book is good enough to warrant it. This is the case with Ask for Mercy, Season 3, A World of Disquiet. (Issue one of a six issue series.)
A Beautiful Book
Having not being familiar with the title, the first thing that you notice is that this is a beautiful book. Every panel are examples of finely done traditional illustrations. I have only recently realized that the traditional skills are still in vogue (see Soo Lee in Ivy and Thorn). Up until then, I had thought that the digital genre had begun to hold sway, but it is nice to see the charm of traditional art. Great work here being done here by Abigail Jill Harding. Fine pen and brush lines along with exquisite color (even though the subject matter deals mainly with monsters).
Writer Richard Starkings shows his experience by framing the story so that he explains through the narrative what had happened and why. This he did in the front of this issue. By doing that he captures the story for those already familiar with previous Seasons, without leaving his new readers behind. And it is quite a story. Through the first two chapters, it touches on the supernatural, history, mythology and it never hurts to throw the evil Nazis into the mix.
The Tale Begins
In this new chapter, just as in previous chapters, a time change is in play. This time between 2023, and 2020. For this issue, it starts in 2023 in Leeds England. A young girl is being chased by…you guessed it…monsters. Just as the monsters draw near, Mercy appears. She comes with her sword, ready to defend the girl without really knowing the circumstances. At that point, it mattered not. They were monsters and killing them is what she did.
She fights them off steadily until they overwhelm her with shear numbers…momentarily. But she powers up and their advantage is short lived. After the carnage, she comes across a monster who asks her for mercy. She responds that her “NAME is Mercy, but it is not her nature.” (Great line by the way). Upon closer examination, she sees that he is partly human. He asks her to look after his little girl Becky, but then he asks her to kill Him, which she obliges. Whether or not this was “mercy“ might be open to interpretation.
Rescuing Becky
Meanwhile, her compatriot Ratmir picks up the young girl in his wolf form and whisks her away to presumed safety. Apparently the young girl is not unfamiliar with monsters. That probably explains why a talking wolf didn’t give her reason for pause. After reassuming his human form, he asks the girl her name. She tells him her name is Becky. She then inquired what he is, asking if he was a werewolf like on Dr. Who. (Another sign of the young lady’s obvious intelligence). Ratmir, not understanding the reference, explained he was not a Doctor, but he did ask where all of these monsters came from. Becky was puzzled that he did not know. But before their conversation could go any further, Becky was pointing up in the sky. Some new squid like creatures had appeared as the issue ends.
Thoughts
As I said in the beginning, Chapter 3 was my first exposure to the Ask for Mercy series. Because of the approach that Starkling’s took, I quickly obtained the previous two chapters. His tales are deep with mythological connections and good old fashioned monster hunting. The characters are complicated and somewhat flawed, just like your garden variety humans. This makes them relatable even in a mythical tale. That’s quite the job and he accomplishes it well.
Artwork
I have already extolled the virtues of Miss Harding’s work here. But it bears repeating how pretty these panels are. And while there are scenes of mayhem and supposed blood letting, she does not overwhelm the reader with gore. She instead makes it known what is happening without being too graphic. This might not be to some liking, but for myself, it is a welcome approach.
Recommended
If you have been reading this series to this point, you will not be surprised that quality is maintained. If you are new to the title, give it a look, if nothing else for the artwork being done here and a engaging tale of various genres tied together well…and did I mention there were monsters?
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Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
