Just the right mix of sci-fi and detective story, The Fuse is one of those solid genre mash-ups. It veers more toward the cop side of things, but there's enough of the sci-fi element to make it more than just a novel setting. With this 2nd issue, the mystery surrounding the dead cablers (the hobos of the future) starts to deepen, and the writing, both story and dialogue, really pop. I'm still not entirely won over on the art, but whatever.
As much as I liked Sovereign, the elements of human culture and history that were blatantly repurposed for the comic kinda bugged me. You couldn't think up anything on your own, so you just took the Mughal empire and British colonialism in India and slapped on some fantasy names & threw in some monsters? Like I said, I liked this book, but it also kind of irked me.
Don't expect to just pick up Undertow and casually thumb through it. Between the scratchy art and piercing color palate, it can be a bit of an eye melter. I actually really like the art, but it's the sort of thing you need to sit down and soak up. The story's also a little complicated, with two interrelated parts and a handful of flashbacks. Not the thing for everybody, but if you want to sink your teeth into some weird science stuff, this is it.
I dig Toby Cypress work, but they should have gotten someone else to draw this book. The color scheme is fantastic for a noir piece; blacks, whitse, and reds, with the grays done in Ben-Day dots. But, the art is so jangly it detracts from the layout. The pace of the story also seems a little slow, especially for a miniseries that's only four issues long. I'll probably see this out to the end, but I have a feeling I may have lost interest by then.
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