Livewire #6 Faces The Personification Of Hate And Fear
by Tony Thornley
Fear of the other is a powerful and frightening concept that we deal with in the modern world each and every day. Because of that it makes for a powerful metaphor for fiction, which Livewire #6 embraces for this story.
Vita Ayala, Kano, and Saida Temofonte explore a powerful metaphor while telling an espionage-action story this issue.
Amanda McKee is in the clutches of the government’s psiot training program. Her objective is to rescue one of the program’s young charges and dig up any dirt. However, she may not survive long enough to accomplish either…
Ayala’s story is sharp as both a metaphor and as an action story. They embrace exploring the fear of otherness and the manufactured danger of the other. They also show characters who just want to live their lives would be affected by these biases, in several different ways. However, it’s all wrapped up in an excellent action thriller story.
Kano’s art is a major draw for the issue. He sets a tone of paranoia throughout the issue, using Amanda’s body language and small insets of security cameras to show us her suspicion and unease. He also has an excellent eye for fight choreography, and utilizes some cool tricks to put emphasis on the fight- dropping the background and gutters to put focus on Amanda and her opponents.
This continues to be Valiant’s best ongoing book, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Livewire #6 is available now from Valiant Entertainment.
