TWO ISSUES, LAST CHANCE? MIND THE GAP 1&2

This week I’ve been examining the first two issues of new comic book series to see if they warrant my buying a third. So far I’ve had two series that failed to convince me to continue on and one series that won me over instantly. In this fourth part of the series we’re going to take a look at Mind The Gap from Image Comics. Written by Jim McCann (who worked on the critically acclaimed “Hawkeye &  Mockingbird” series at Marvel Comics) with art and covers by Rodin Esquejo and Sonia Oback. In issue one, a young woman named Elle Peterssen has been injured or possibly attacked and is in a coma. Whirling around her is a generous helping of mystery, melodrama and the metaphysical as we learn about her family and friends, some of whom are not what they seem, some are jerks, and one might be the person who failed in their attempt to end her life.

There’s also lots of drama in the hospital. Dr. Geller is the ER doctor on call and she is first to treat Elle. But Geller is pushed aside by the seemingly career climbing Dr. Hammond. Hammond is fully aware that Elle’s family is rich and a patron of the hospital. Meanwhile, the comatose Elle’s mind is still active and functioning in a strange limbo like world called “The Garden”. Here wanders the minds of those with damaged brains who are trying to find their way back to their bodies and their previous lives. In issue 2, Dr. Geller finds out that Elle’s brain activity is much higher than normal for someone in a coma. In the Garden, Elle learns that she has the ability to inhabit the bodies of other comatose patients. 

Dr. Gina Geller shares some suspicions she has about the Elle Peterssen case and the career climbing Dr. Hammond with her wife, Detective Annie Wallace. There’s also some strange goings on with Elle’s seemingly detached mother and distraught father. Mind the Gap is a bit like Twin Peaks meets Ghost meets Deadman. I am intrigued by the story that McCann is weaving here. Reading this series I am reminded of the fun of the old night time soaps such as Falcon Crest, Dynasty, St Elsewhere and others in that vein.

Melodrama often has a hard time translating to the page of a comic when colorful superheroes aren’t involved but I have to say that I love the melodramatic aspects of Mind the Gap as much as I do the more mystical and mysterious elements of the story. The art is just lovely. I will say that I enjoyed the art in issue one just a bit more than issue 2. There were several pages that were a bit too dark and murky for my tastes.  However, the cover to issue one is one of the most stunning, eye catching covers that I have seen in a long while.  The story is solidly entertaining and gripping. I’ve read issue one and two of Mind The Gap and I will definitely be on board for future issues as long as the story is this entertaining and the quality of the talent involved is this good.