Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Greg Tocchini
Release Date: 29th October 2014

Low has achieved preposterously high scores from myself and others in the past. Can it sustain this, or is it going to start to lag?

Well, almost. I’m starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s one of the best comics out there at present, but I genuinely think that this issue is too much, too soon. It’s as if Remender’s so desperate to show us this wonderful world he’s built, he’s got to rush on with it.

I really don’t want to spoil this issue, but suffice to say that he revisits characters from the first issue – which is fine, but for all the talk in the issue of “destiny” still feels a little contrived, and simply isn’t yet necessary. Also, the characterisation feels a little predictable, and his attempt to begin to explore redemption for Marik, the protagonist’s son, is simply too few issues into the arc to really make an impact.

The art’s still gorgeous, absorbing, and lush – a different take on this diluvian world – but again, having moved to a completely new location, we don’t have the time we might have liked spend elsewhere.

Categorically, do not get me wrong. Low is a brilliant, beautiful, and often profound comic. But it suffers from a burden of expectation having been of such high standard thus far; let’s see where issue 5 takes us.

Rating 4/5.

The Writer of this piece was: Sam De Smith
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