Rogue Sun #32: Enter Mr. Poe

Parallel storytelling continues in Rogue Sun #32. Aurie’s conflict with Mr. Poe’s forces moves forward while Dylan’s college trip offers both growth and intrigue. The divided storylines work particularly well for Dylan’s portion of the issue. Despite the fact that Aurie and Dylan’s stories are intercut, never interrupting Dylan’s college trip with him becoming Rogue Sun gives what is essentially extended character development a lot of room to breathe.

Vanessa and Byron are welcome additions on the college trip. Whereas in Rogue Sun #31 they were largely objects to highlight Dylan’s bad decision making, in Rogue Sun #32 they are closer to foils for him. Vanessa and Bryon’s contrasting qualities are further highlighted by the nature of each character’s relationship to Dylan. Byron’s punching out of a frat boy to get Dylan out of trouble, for instance, shines a spotlight on not just the nature of their specific friendship but on Dylan as a character (and it’s a nice follow-up to actions taken in the previous issue).

Aurie is a less compelling character on her own, unfortunately. She is determined to be a model Rogue Sun which works well when she and Dylan can play off each other. In Dylan’s absence, though, Aurie’s interaction is limited to her father who was another by-the-book Rogue Sun.

Mr. Poe is one of the most creative Rogue Sun characters yet. A cat villain is darkly funny, especially since it is not anthropomorphized or able to communicate directly. Mr. Poe’s silence makes him inscrutable. But Parrott and Cotton go beyond pure novelty by giving Mr. Poe a believable backstory. If a human can become a villain because of privation and isolation, why not a cat?

Dylan’s storyline, already the strongest part of Rogue Sun #32, is further enhanced by Frenda’s work on characters, specifically facial features and expressions. Frenda gets a lot of mileage out of very small patches of shading, typically groups of just a few short, thin lines. The patches are typically applied near eyes, around the chin area, and above or below cheeks. In the case of Dylan and his friends from high school, the small patches are very light. Larger characters, such as some of those at college, sport bigger patches of thicker lines which accentuate features even more–sharper cheekbones, bigger foreheads, and so forth. The result is very expressive characters which is ideal for this ordinary person type of storyline.

Seemingly minor but quite important under the circumstances, Frenda draws a very good cat. Poe looks perfectly ordinary if overly serious. But Frenda doesn’t do any kind of visual wink or nod toward Poe being more than a mere cat. That ordinariness further contributes to the character’s amusing quality.

A chunk of Dylan’s storyline takes place at an outdoor house party. Marques uses a blend of light purple and blue for the sky to create a twilight setting. The further addition of pink and purple hues to some of the characters and background, especially in shadows, gives the sequence an almost intimate feeling which works well for some of Dylan and Vanessa’s interaction at the end of the scene.

Several of the sequences in Dylan’s college visit are heavy with dialogue–something that makes sense given the nature of the story. Carey does a good job keeping everything well organized with the dialogue bubbles out of the way of the expressive characters.