REVIEW: 'Everfrost' #2 by Ryan K Lindsay, Sami Kivela, and Lauren Affe

Van just wants to retrieve her brother's DNA and get off the planet. The war between factions is making that almost impossible. Will Van achieve her goal without getting sucked into the war?

EVERFROST #2

Writer: Ryan K Lindsay

Artist: Sami Kivela, Lauren Affe

Letters: Jim Campbell

Publisher: Black Mask Studios

Release Date: July 14, 2021

Cover Price: $3.99

Van and Eight have stepped back into the bustle of the Precinct to discover her son is still alive, there's an epic war between the Bloom and the Warlords bubbling over, and time has become a little fluid since she went out to live on the ice. She needs a whole mess of answers, so she goes to the one person she thinks might be able to help...her mother. Join us for a tale of echoes through time we could only call 'Bootleg Fidelity' as two key characters meet untimely deaths!  Ryan K Lindsay, award-winning writer of ETERNAL and NEGATIVE SPACE, teams again with Sami Kivelä, the artistic juggernaut behind ABBOTT and UNDONE BY BLOOD, alongside Lauren Affe, the colourist of THE WITCHER, STRANGER THINGS, and FIVE GHOSTS, as they drop an absolute bomb of sci-fi insanity and heartbreaking emotion in the grandest Black Mask tradition.

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

'Everfrost' #1 was a tour-de-force world-building debut from Ryan Lindsay and Sami Kivela. A world at war between two different factions and a personal tragedy has made Van Louise reach her breaking point. After secluding herself in a frozen remote part of the world, she endeavors to leave the planet and escape the misery of a collapsed society. However, her murdered son's DNA is still being exploited and used to make clones. A heart-breaking reminder she wants to put an end to before she can leave. 

'Everfrost' does have some action even some swordplay but it's really a character-driven drama in ways Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica are. This is Van Louise's journey and Lindsay makes us care and invest in her struggle to free herself from the planet and her past. Yet, the past won't let go of her. As if seeing clones of her son around weren't painful enough she comes across her "mother," a digitized clone of her actual mother embedded with her memories and personality. She's always had a contentious relationship with her and this interaction is no different but it's clear that even this hologram wants the best for Van. It's a personal moment that resonates amid the war for its dramatic punch and emotional underpinnings. 

Van gets caught up in this uprising against the Warlords by accident delaying her plans to get off the planet. The turmoil creates a dangerous landscape for her to navigate but as it sucks her in there are revelations along the way that will have greater repercussions. 

Kivela and Lauren Affe are so deft at creating an interesting world even with little action. The character designs including costumes are very practical and sleek. The futuristic aspects are subtle but well thought out. For a dystopian future-scape, it's colorfully populated by Affe. One of the most impressive techniques in the issue involves Van's mom. The way she phases in and out of hologram status is creative. It's like an old TV getting staticky and the primary colors of resolution appear. 

'Everfrost' #2 gives us a deeper look at Van's relationships as she tries to get her son's DNA amid the war. The series is an engrossing sci-fi drama with a tough but vulnerable leading character. Things continue to escalate in resistance to the Warlords and Van may have just exasperated the situation. 'Everfrost' is just getting started and deserves a read. If you're a fan of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, or The Expanse you'll appreciate this series.