SUMMER SHADOWS #2: An Invitation in the Purple Evening Shadows

The shadows lengthen. Dunning and the creative team do a spectacular job of deepening the suspense here while managing to dig a little deeper into their main characters. Nick is still deeply lost in his need to find Anthony, so much so that he’s far less aware of the rising darkness around him in Avraxos. Meanwhile Alekos’s investigation leads him not only to Nick but also deeper into the shadowed secrets of Avraxos and the mysterious occupants of the black NYX yacht. Everything points to them, from a troubled , panic-stricken barman who may have been the last person to see Anthony alive to an old man who tells Alekos a story of his youth and a man that never ages, the shadows deepen. The vampires have their eyes on Nick and nothing will stop the seduction. Enter Veronica, beautiful, mysterious, charming but like a statue made of ice so cold that if you touched it you would burn your hand. I like that Dunning has inverted the whole vampire invitation idea and it’s the vampire that does the inviting here. Part of what keeps the narrative interesting is that it’s still unclear what the vampires intentions are past merely feasting on these beautiful young people, because there are no implicitly shown deaths and there’s a moment where Nick hits a goat in the road, and chooses to kill it to end it’s suffering, while a vampire watches from the shadows. It implies a test, unless the vampire is just being vindictive? The motivations are unclear but the moment seems important.

The character work is excellent from Dunning. Nick’s psychology is delved into. He’s extremely lost without Anthony, who was his everything but he’s so deeply lost in his melancholy he doesn’t seem to grasp the strangeness of things happening around him. Even when he meets Veronica who has some of the best dialogue in the book, he’s eyes are still on the horizon even as she invites him to a party on the NYX. Dunning’s dialogue in this entire book is fantastic and flows through the book at a beautifully languid but steady pace like a tiny rivulet of blood from a freshly pierced artery. Dunning digs into Alekos character too, showing off his investigative skills and the fact that he’s prone to being a bit of an obsessive workaholic. There’s also a moment between Aleko’s and Nick that point’s very strongly toward a closer future relationship and there’s a preview note at the end of the issue that confirms that moments relevance. The old sailor and his warnings are also fleshed out as he tells Alexos a story from his youth which points to how ancient the vampires in the area are. Overall it’s a good character driven issue which dances around and deepens the mystery of the islands vampire denizens while moving it’s central protagonists ineffably toward them.

Cabral and Simpson keep the issue deeply atmospheric, there’s a great deal of interpersonal exchanges here. So there is a focus on tight close up panels and eye contact as characters have verbal exchanges with virtually no background but Cabral always sets the scene first with a beautiful detailed wide shot with atmosphere. More and more of the issues daylight bright sky blues, greens and tans are traded for evening purple, blacks and darker evening blues almost as if Avroxos is two different worlds during the day and the night.

Cabral’s vampires remain mysterious luminous beautiful creatures nearly all of the time with their more predatory nature revealed only briefly in the storied imaginings (or are they) of a barman that saw something he can’t explain or a splash of a beautiful but dangerous looking woman watching Nick from a rocky perch with the kind of smile that a predator reserves for it’s prey. The cycle of time from night to day to night conveyed through Simpsons marvelous coloring marks the passage of time as the mystery of these ancient and strange creatures lures you along with Dunning’s excellent script and Cabral’s beautiful art all the while small things like a bar sign that says ” THE FURNACE” remind you that Avraxos is like a one of those beautiful carnivorous plants that lulls and seduces until one is trapped and it’s too late. Jim Campbell smartly letters the issue with a casual bolding of single words like a code that points you down a darkened pathway with emphasis on the important things in the dialogue.