I
Writer and Art: Ray Fawkes
Publisher: Image Comics
Ray Fawkes’s Intersect is one of the more challenging new series that Image has released. From the immediate first pages, it feels like one has awoken from a deep slumber only to welcome the reader into an incredibly dark nightmare. The words and images flow forth like a river forming into a vast ocean. The use of empty space only adds more anxiety to the horrific setting. Though there often isn’t any colour, the splashes of white lead the reader towards a combination of rough colours and lines, forming pools of chaotic imagery. With Fawkes doing pretty much everything with this series, his creative control feels right at home with this awry story.
There is a slight feel of Cronenberg body horror with the dialogue and occurrences of oddities; especially from the constant discussion of owning the ‘flesh’ and a repeating omniscient voice that says “wake up.” Two people are present for a majority of this first issue, introduced as Kid and Ali. Ali appears to have the very odd ability of switching not only into another personality named Jason, but altering the body, morphing the body and its appearance. How this is possible is not made immediately apparent, but is definitely an interesting concept that will be interesting to see how Fawkes develops it down the road. With this altering of the self, both in body and mind, it adds to the style of superimposition through the artwork; images often lie out layered over one another, causing their visual nature to alter right before the readers’ eyes.
Ali (or Jason) and Kid are trying to escape from this town they are introduced in. They are running away from what might very well be an ordinary dog-turned hell beast named Lucky. Hues of pink, blue and green wash across the pages, really giving a sense of motion to the characters and the actions occurring. You can almost hear the sound effects as a door is kicked in or the deep, devilish barks of Lucky. There isn’t much room for what direction this series could possibly go in, especially since Hawkes drops the reader in the middle of a world that has gone through some drastic changes. However, the sense of wonder is always a good thing for a series that has just begun. The puzzled nature continues to the back pages of the issue, where odd messages are spread out like bizarro versions of punk concert posters, welcoming anyone to decipher their twisted words.
Intersect is a very visual experience that would benefit on as large a scale as possible, without any distractions. The series present this rough idea of what it might be like to peer into the very sketchbook of Fawkes, also harkening to what might be difficult to approach if one is used to more organized structures of mainstream comics. There is really only one instance of separated frames and then the images begin to breath into a life of their own. Reading Intersect multiple times actually opened up more content and connections better understood than the first time around; surely something that most people approaching this series might very well end up doing, creating what is sure to be a very enriching and psychedelic experience.