Review – Burning Fields #5 (of 8) (BOOM! Studios)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer(s): Michael Moreci, Tim Daniel
Artist: Colin Lorimer
Release Date: 17^th June, 2015

With the entire oilfield turning into one massive powderkeg following the bombing of Carapace HQ at the end of issue four, the horror-infused pressure cooker that is BOOM! Studios’ Burning Fields seems poised to explode in the second half of the series, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that not everybody is going to make it out of this one alive.

As the stakes are raised as high as they’ve been, Dana and Aban concoct a desperate plan here to try to capture Renfro – a plan which perfectly illustrates Dana’s ruthlessness and willing to do whatever it takes in the pursuit of her mission. In Dana Atkinson, Moreci and Daniel have crafted a brilliantly compelling protagonist; deeply troubled and haunted by her past, she continually treads the line between justice and vengeance, and even at this stage in the story it’s difficult to predict which side is going to win out in the end. Her guard is lowering ever so slightly, at least in terms of her interactions with Aban, and each fleeting glimpse we are given at her past only adds to the growing sense of intrigue that surrounds her.

I know I’ve I’ve said the same thing in my reviews of pretty much every issue of this series so far, but Colin Lorimer is churning out absolute career-best work here. Dark, shadowy and emotional, Lorimer infuses his heavily-inked characters with a sense of expression that perfectly enhances Moreci and Daniel’s tense script. While he keeps the verbal exchanges suitably dynamic, his skills really come to the fore during the brief forays into the supernatural moments of the series, and while there isn’t a visual flourish here that quite matches that page from issue four, Lorimer does come pretty damn close with one particularly shocking moment during the aforementioned ‘plan’.

I read a lot of comics on a weekly basis, but few have impressed me in recent memory as much as this series has. Moreci, Daniel and Lorimer have combined to create a nerve-shredding slice of politically charged horror, and while we’ve only just passed the halfway point in this tightly plotted tale, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Burning Fields is one of the absolute must-buy comics of 2015.

Oh, and as an aside, any issue of any comic that manages to include an insanely topical Jurassic Park reference without it feeling tacky earns an additional tip of the hat from me. Well played, sirs.

Rating: 5/5.

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