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Dept. H #6
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: September 21st, 2016.
Written by: Matt Kindt
Illustrated by: Matt Kindt, Sharlene Kindt
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Not caught up? Get caught up. Otherwise you're not going to know what's going on here. Matt and Sharlene Kindt are building to something big here, and the five issues that precede this sixth installment of Dept. H obviously lay down the groundwork.
Mia's trying to clear out one of the tunnels, she knows that water is rushing towards her and so she puts on her helmet and prepares for the worst. Q tells her via radio to tie herself down to something. The wave comes in and it is massive, forcing her to hold on for dear life. It's not enough, she's knocked back, hits her head. She flashes back to some time spent with her father, she's younger here, they talk about how the most important commodity for a long distance expedition is space, because you can only pack so much. Everything they pack has to serve more than one purpose or it's a waste. The same rule applies to people.
She wakes up, starts walking around - she's okay, but a little rattled. As she makes her way back towards the main terminal she sees Q and Aaron talking. Jerome is stuck in his lab but the area is flooding. Q wants to seal the area off and leave Jerome to die, Aaron wants to try and save him, albeit at great risk to everyone else in the base. Q thinks Jerome is sick, contagious. Things get physical and Q throws his weight around. When he knocks Mia out she again flashes back to the days before her father was murdered. He teaches her to be wary of unexpected outcomes but also to welcome them.
Mia frees Jerome, who runs like a madman down the hall away from the others, but before they can deal with that Bob tells them that the explosion cracked the gas tank and that it's leaking. It's burning too hot for anyone to get close enough to turn the tanks off, and Q says it's time to abandon the base. They're losing it too quickly. We flashback again to Mia's father, a dive they took together, a moment where she got sick and the significance of the Dept. H logo that he designed in honor of her mother. Back in the present, Mia's not ready to give up on the base just yet. After all, the evidence she needs to find out who really killed her father is all down here. She needs it.
This is one of those issues that answers a few questions but simultaneously asks a few more, but it's a very satisfying read because it does a great job of furthering the plot and continuing to expand on the character development that's been a big part of this series since the first issue. A big part of this is the background information on the influence that Mia's father had on her in her younger days. It helps solidify for the reader why she is going to the lengths to which she is going in order to find out the truth about what really happened to him. At the same time, some of the supporting characters show their true colors here, and this gives the plot some nice twists and turns. There's a good amount of action here, it's a very fast paced issue, but it isn't superfluous and you always get the impression that everything that happens in this issue isn't for show, there's a determined purpose behind it all. The art is just as strong as the story. Kindt's art style is unorthodox in that it's quirky and weird but beautiful in its own strange way. The action takes place almost entirely inside the base this time, so we don't get the insanely awesome creature designs we've been treated to in past issues, but facial expressions and wild detail work in the backgrounds that show off the architecture of the base more than make up for that. Sharlene Kindt's coloring work continues to be the icing on the cake as far as the visuals go. All in all, another great issue in a fiercely original series.
And like every issue of the series so far, we get a couple of sketchbook pages. This time they show off early character design work for Jerome and for some of the gear used by characters in the book. As always, according to Kindt's text in the first issue, will remain exclusive to the monthly single issues and not be reprinted in the eventual trade edition(s). We get some letters/responses here too that are an interesting read.
