“A Nightmare Comes True”

Creator – Patrick Trahey

Pencils/Ink/Tones – Luis Suarez

Lettering/Ballons – MaGnUs (Martín A. Pérez)

Colors/Text/Lettering – Peter Simeti

Check out my previous reviews of issue #1 and issue #2

Further separation and fracturing of the travelling part of our small family is what we get for an opener in issue #3 of The XII. The wanderers in our family group have reached a crossroads in a variety of ways.

The stress and tension are immediately brought to bear by page 2-3 and some hard choices will have to be made. The further reduced in numbers our characters become in their wandering isolation, the more we begin to fear the worst.

This is not the kind of world to be caught unaware without your friends close.

” A Nightmare Comes True “ brings this reality painfully and heartrendingly home to us. Through the tragedies and crises, the travelers in our family are developing as rapidly as the plot has begun to move.

It is very apparent that these themes of growth and pacing are leading us towards a kind of inevitable climax that will change our characters forever and it could be only pages away. Indeed we find it at page 14.  I find this point in the book to be a very poignant moment.  A well drawn and composed sequence.

We get to take a breath, even though we aren’t the least bit happy about it.

We, like our characters are left with very little room to grieve or morn the tragedy that has unfolded. Confrontations and flight from pain and further loss help to ratchet things up in a sort of dynamic tension that threatens to break the spirit of our main characters. We’re left hanging as to what may happen next for a few pages.

We are returned to the core group of the family to help relieve grief and distress. This segue serves the story very well and is a thoughtfully placed and timed update. We’ve been so busy being immersed in following our main travelling characters, and with all that’s happened; it’s almost scary to want to take a look back and again we fear the worst.

Again the story rises into mysterious circumstances and the cliff hanger at the end of this issue is a frustrating spot to leave us.

I think it’s an ingenious way to end this issue.

If you aren’t hooked in the story very firmly at this point,

I must ask what else you might require from a good story?

It’s all here.

I’m sorry I haven’t picked up #4 since it had not appeared on the shelf as of this writing, but I will get a copy as soon as possible and continue our exploration as quickly as I can.

The crafting of this story has been masterful from where I stand and I am apprehensive that I only have two issues remaining in this riveting story.

This was simply a great issue and a pleasure to read, even though the subject is difficult.

This is a testament to Patricks’ writing and I thank him for bringing this story to us. I hope there is more from him in the near future and hopefully with more to see and experience with these characters.

The intensity of the moments along with the artful and masterful way these creators have weaved irony, tension and climax together into a very important part of our story.

A ” Nightmare Comes True “ is a great read.

Check out my review of issue #4 here.

You can still grab the first four issues for only $1.50 a copy here. Issue #5 is at all the best LCS’s this month! And there is a Kickstarter going on now for the collected trade! Check that out here!

Brought to  you by the great folks @ 

alternacomics.com

***PICTURE CREDITS

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https://www.purefandom.com/2017/04/03/comic-book-the-xii-1-father/

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