Roche Limit #3 and 4, by Michael Moreci (writer), Vic Malhorta (artist), Kyle Charles (art assists, #3), Lauren Affe (colorist, #4), Jordan Boyd (colorist, #3), Jim Campbell (letters, #4), Ryan Ferrier (letters, #3) - I have kept thinking that face reminds me of something, and it finally hit me. That episode of Scooby-Doo, where the robot is running amok through the old amusement park. He looked like just like that poor guy there to the left. So all we need to solve the problems on this colony are pot-smoking teens are their Great Dane.Alex (the drug maker with the bomb on his chest) and Sonya (the cop from earth) continue their search for Sonya's sister Bekkah. But it seems the people addicted to Alex' drug are developing some ugly side effects. Black eyes, bad skin, tendency to speak in dire warnings, that sort of thing. They track down a scientist named Sinclair, who is behind the disappearance of her sister, but claims he isn't. And his goon got ahold of a cane with a gun hidden in it, so they had to back off.
There's a lot of running around, but it boils down to this: When Sinclair dumps women into the anomaly, it separates their souls from their body. this was discovered by some of the initial explorers, who are presumed dead, but are still lurking in the background somewhere, preparing. He reels the bodies back out, and the soul pops up in the mines, as those glowy things the two teens found one of previously (which they subsequently lost to the goons working for that madam, Grace, though I doubt she has any clue what it is). If the body remains soulless, it turns into these black-eyed weirdos (though it doesn't have to be the same soul. In fact, Bekkah is up and moving around with someone else's soul in her, though I can't tell if it makes a difference). But it'll happen anyway, because the planet itself is poisonous, because of something the anomaly emits. And Alex' drug, made from minerals found on the colony, provides a concentrated dose. Now all the empty/poisoned wackaloons Sinclair has collected from his tests have been set loose by former kingpin/black-eyed wackaloon Moscow, and are killing everyone else in service of whatever is on the other side of the anomaly. Sinclair, Alex, Sonya, and Bekkah know doodley squat about all that, because they went back out into space to try and get Bekkah back to normal by dunking her in the anomaly again. Except something is coming through from the other side, probably the Black Sun all the wackaloons worship.
I have no idea how all this is going to come together. There's only supposed to be one issue left in this arc, and I don't know if the next arc (whenever that comes out) will pick up where this leaves off, or if it'll time jump forward, or maybe backwards. I don't really follow how Bekkah can have someone else's soul in her, yet she apparently behaves and remembers all the things Bekkah does. But without one, you become some weird, murdering, dark-eyed lunatic thing.
You could really tell Malhorta was getting assisted on the art near the end of issue 4. Characters' faces got considerably less distinct and more simplified. Some of the buildings look really rushed. But the color work is still excellent. I especially like how vivid the Anomaly is. It's this bright light that naturally draws the eye, that dominates every scene it's in. And yet, it's deadly. We want to explore it, find out of there's something on the other side, but that doesn't lead anywhere good.
Although, you explore, and you lose your soul, and become a slave to some larger, destructive force? Kind of an odd message. I mean, yes, everyone who stays there is doomed to that fate, but the people exploring get it faster, even than the people who try to use a drug to escape into fond memories of their past.
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