Writer / Artist: Alexander Tucker
17th March 2021
The Pitch: All attempts to encapsulate this work may be useless.
Sometimes, you just have to admit you don't get it. When this came my way (last year), it came with a personal note from Alex that I realise may have been something of a warning: 'Hi Paul! Here's the comic. Hope you enjoy!! It's more of a poem in some ways – Alex. Now, whilst I wasn't expecting Iron Man vs Skrulls, I have to say... I was confused by this book. I loved the format. I have a bit of an occasional fetish for oversized comic issues. Not in page count, but in the expansive page size. I love the way it allows the art to breathe. So this instantly felt special to me. But reading it... Straight away, I felt out of my depth. Like I'd been made to find my way around a village in England where the street signs were in an alien language. I felt, for lack of a better word, stupid.
That's not to say the book or it's creator want you to feel that way. Any artist's goal is communication of ideas to create an emotional resonance. More that I understand the tone and sound of this comic... just not the language. Not the syntax. And once I made my peace with that, everything was fine. I mean, as fine as things could be. Nominally, Entity Reunion 2 seems to take place in the aftermath of some kind of alien or trans-dimensional event or visitation. We see strange figures moving through a suburban landscape, the houses devoid of people, yet having a living, breathing pulse. The figures seem to be part of an investigation into this event... or are they it's cause. Look, I just couldn't tell you. I don't know. Reading it again (and again), I'm still none the wiser. I feel no shame in this. Just a pang of awkwardness that I haven't understood the signal being broadcast, like an old man trying to get a TV to work.
THE FEELING CREATED IS ONE OF HUMANITY FADING
But do I feel negatively about this book? I have to say no. The sense that Alex creates is one of life ending. Not a doom-laden invasion of beings or an interplanetary war but more of civilisation that knows it's time has come and has simply allowed itself to be supplanted by higher beings. There is no malevolent intent in this book. Just the eerie feeling of humanity fading. It unsettles, gives you a chill. Alex perfectly captures the sense of a world just post humanity. The unease of unfamiliar landscapes you might find yourself lost in, with no clue on how to get home. Most of all, it communicates those feelings. It's speaks to you not in words but in creeping emotion, like a high-pitched noise whose origin you can't place. Alex's singular palette creates a coldness, which further heightens the emotion. His art is in some ways terrifying. The figures he draws seem only half men, the rest being just muscle with no skin. Skulls with eyes. Sometimes there is nothing to cling to, no human figures at all. Just amorphous ghost-blobs who seem to be pure analytical intelligence. His work recalls Lando's but (at least on the surface) colder and more distanced. I'd love to see more from Alex. You get the sense that he's applied the same emotional directness to this work, being guided purely by instinct and creativity, that he might apply to his music. Sometimes, you don't need to get it. You just need to know that deep down, the art gets you.
You can buy Entity Reunion 2 here, along with a selection of Alex’s music. More of his comics are available here and other music can be found here.