Hey kids, it's time for fun with prefixes and suffixes! (Wait, is the plural form "suffices?" Damn, I left my Oxford at work.) Anyhoo, if one is up on word roots and such, it's easy to tell that based on the title, this series will revolve around the notion of some kind of memory-eating creature, and the inhuman, Lovecraftian creature on the lower half of the cover would certainly reinforce that supposition. This horror story has a solid foundation in characterization. There's been a recent trend in comics storytelling toward decompression, but the creators here don't fall into that trap. The story gets moving quickly... maybe a little too quickly. Though the creepiness factor at the end of this issue is chillingly entertaining, I don't feel as though I know as much about the heroine as I'd like.
Kaley Markowic had a promising future. She was the darling of the extreme sports world, dazzling spectators with her aerial snowboarding prowess. Yes, she had a lot to look forward to... until an accident robbed her of her past. A bad spill and blow to the head results in memory loss, and Kaley is forced to relearn a lot about her life. It proves to be a strain on her relationship with her live-in boyfriend since she doesn't really remember the relationship at all. If she had her memories, she'd realize that her man isn't behaving as he usually does, and something bizarre and ugly is behind it.
Huddleston does an excellent job of capturing the youth and vitality of the heroine. It makes for a nice contrast with the sullen, detached person she's become as a result of her accident and amnesia. But where the artist really shines is with his depiction of the grotestque, tentacled creature that has somehow emerged from the accident and begun devouring Kaley's life. Huddleston's depiction of her struggle with the creature really brings its strength and insiduious nature to life.
It's the disturbing nature of the parasitic title "character" from which this issue derives its greatest strength. Its stealthy and thoroughly alien nature really comes through here. Its glowing eyes, its powerful grip, its ability to go unnoticed... it all makes for some solid horror-genre subject matter.
While I loved the horror stuff, I was more interested in seeing what made Kaley tick here, and there wasn't as much of it as I would have liked. The writers touch upon how her amnesia has changed her life, how it has affected those around her, but the plotting is so accelerated here so as to preclude any in-depth examination of those ideas. I have to admit that the Mnemovore stuff at the end of the issue is definitely the hook needed to get the reader to come back for more and couldn't be sacrificed for more grounded, character-driven matertial. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. 7/10
