Outcast #19: “Under Devil’s Wing”
Image Comics
Creator and Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Paul Azeceta
Colorist: Elizabeth Breitweiser
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Paul Azeceta, Elizabeth Breitweiser
After a several-month hiatus, Outcast doesn’t take the best course of action upon its return. It forgoes the variety it’s showcased in recent issues and sticks with a single scene throughout. Robert Kirkman reveals a few more details about the overarching plot, but most are redundant, as readers should’ve already surmised them or had learned them in previous issues. Each month it’s like getting a small bite of a piece of cake when you want the whole thing. It wouldn’t be surprising if Kirkman is purposely taking the story on a slow ride so the show doesn’t catch up so soon. However, I’m hoping some of the details foreshadow what’s to come. If that’s the case, I’m excited.
The story follows a single scene as it’s done in previous issues—drawing out one encounter over the whole issue. This time it’s a conversation between Kyle and Sidney, who’s holding Kyle captive in creepy house filled with possessed people—a party you never want to be invited to. However, Sidney doesn’t want Kyle to be hurt, noting “We need you. I’m sure that much, at least, is very clear to you. . . . I’d much prefer to see you as an ally.” But Kyle wants none of that and attempts to break free a couple times throughout. There may come a time when his courage fails, but it is not this day.
Sidney continues to claim that he’s one of the good guys and that he, Kyle, and the demons are all from the same place: “Your light guides us and you have power over us and you give us power. We are intertwined in so many ways. Because your kind and my kind . . . we’re from the same place.” So what’s a part of Kyle that makes him an Outcast is from the same place as Sidney and the demons, or the companions. And that place isn’t hell, according to Sidney. His kind pushed out the Outcasts, because they hate them. When the Outcasts came to Earth, they followed them. “We can draw strength from where we come from through you. But you can also interrupt our hold. Making it harder to stay here reminding us of our home . . . connecting us to it.” It almost sounds like they’re all fallen angels. Kirkman references the other Outcasts again in this issue, which makes me think we may be meeting some others soon—I hope. That would definitely pick up the pace.
As always, I enjoy Paul Azeceta’s and Elizabeth Breitweiser’s artwork in this issue. The dark, foreboding colors and sharp line work are perfect for Outcast. The close-ups on certain expressions or gestures are additions that I look forward to—such as Sidney poking Kyle in the chest as he tells him, “It’s not an addition. It’s not a gift or a companion like I have. It’s you. It’s part of you. It’s always been a part of you.” Azeceta and Breitweiser smartly illustrate each page.
Azeceta’s and Breitweiser’s cover features Sidney and Kyle, with Sidney’s hand under Kyle’s chin as he looks down at him with an unsettling grin. The imagery and the content inside go perfect with the issue title: “Under Devil’s Wing.” Sidney is taking Kyle under his wing and hoping to persuade him to fight with him rather than against him.
Issue 19 slowly but surely lays the groundwork for what’s to come. I’m hoping in the upcoming issues we’ll get to meet some more Outcasts. The merge continues to get closer. What side will they all be on?