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KISSING CHAOS #3
Recommended (8/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Arthur Dela Cruz
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $2.25 US |
Now that I've got a feel for Kissing Chaos, I'm starting to enjoy it more. It was marketed as something like 100 Bullets or True Romance, but there's a dreamlike
quality to the storytelling and art that marks it more as something in the David
Lynch arena. It's an interesting counterbalance of Angela's somewhat delusional
narration and the very cynical worldviews of Raevyn and Damien, and the sequence
of events and locations is believable while retaining a certain element of
quirky unreality as well. I've been impressed from the beginning by the artwork,
and Dela Cruz continues to impress there, but his writing is growing on me as
well.
One of my favorite aspects of
the series so far is the interplay between Raevyn and Damien. Raevyn's almost
flighty enjoyment of life and quick wit makes for solid chemistry with Damien's
impatience, and there's a hint of attraction in his annoyance. Despite Angela's
state of mind, it seems she has noticed it too, as she spends most of this issue
convincing herself that Damien would never fall for a girl like Raevyn. The
center of this series so far has been watching these three characters interact
with one another, and it's fascinating.
Which isn't to say the series
lacks for plot. The mystery of what exactly happened to make Damien a murderer
gets a few more clues this issue with an encounter in a bar, and seeing the
group on something on an unplanned road trip has given us a few entertaining
obstacles as well. Dela Cruz picks up nicely from last issue's cliffhanger with
the group hitchhiking along the road and continuing to get on one another's
nerves, and finding a club to go to makes as much sense as anything else would.
Dela Cruz's artwork is one of
the unique aspects of this series, though, reminiscent of still photographs and
painted work at the same time. It is the artwork, more than even Angela's
narration, that conveys the dreamlike feel of the series. We get many point of
view shots, out-of-focus people or locations and a general sense of fog around
everyone, which really gets the sense across that we're seeing this from
Angela's point of view.
Of course, I've also come to expect a certain confusion in each issue, and Dela Cruz delivers on that this issue as well. The last three pages are the start of some sort of altercation in the bar, complete with very unfamiliar faces, and while it makes for a compelling cliffhanger, it does leave me wondering what the hell happened there at the end. If Dela Cruz could manage to clarify his storytelling while maintaining the dreamlike qualities, I'd be even more impressed with Kissing Chaos than I already am.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
