And Then I Read: RASL VOL. 3 by Jeff Smith

Images © Jeff Smith.

This is a mighty weird story. The characters and setting seem right out of film noir: gritty, seductive, hard-nosed, terse, secretive. Then there’s the science fictional side which reminds me a bit of “X-Files,” but more of paranoid 1950s films like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Invaders From Mars.” Smith has made an effort to keep his science plausible and explainable even though some of it is pretty out there. Essentially it’s a multiple worlds story where the main character, Rob, is trying to find and save an alternate world version of his lover while being pursued by an alien and using a dimension-hopping device to keep one step ahead of him. I can’t help feeling this saga is something of an attempt by Jeff Smith to do something radically different from his his series BONE, and it is that, but clearly Jeff likes these ideas and characters, and through his fine storytelling and deceptively simple art style, he’s drawn me in completely.

Here’s a page that I think represents the weirdness I’m talking about. It’s “can’t look away” weirdness. I like it.

Recommended.