Rain #1
What Now? By the end of Rain #1, that is the question. Rain comes from the mind of Joe Hill. ONE of the best American novelists whose father is maybe THE best. It’s a story about love, and about loss. By the end of Rain #1 it’s also a story about what’s next. What do we do when what we love is lost?
Image Comics
Story By: Joe Hill
Adaptation By: David M. Booher
Art By: Zoe Thorogood
Colors By: Chris O’Halloran
Released on: January 12,2022
Story
The start of this five-issue series tells a simple tale. Honeysuckle and her girlfriend Yolanda are moving in together. But soon it starts to rain nails, and Honeysuckles life gets ripped from her. For now the “idea” behind rain is just okay. Why did it rain nails? Will we ever know? Do WE need to know? No spoiler here but as the final words of the last page of the first issue says “What Now?” For now the story revolves around Honeysuckle. She is the catalyst of where our emotion lies in the first issue and where it will lead going forward.
The first issue is a bit wordy throughout. From speech bubbles to exposition, there is a lot to take in, in the first issue. Its not a bad thing but something that with the art and the visuals we saw in Rain #1 could have been toned down. With those words though comes the creation of Honeysuckle as a character. If we are to spend five issues with her, she best be interesting. In the first issues case, she is that and more.
Art
Thorogood and O’Halloran work together perfectly. The issue felt both grand and confined. Double page spreads, character close ups, death and life. All in the first issue and all penciled and colored to perfection.
Thorogood has a way with character designs. They are precise and full of explanation. Every characters emotion, through there facial expressions or body movements, emits there “character”. Who they are. Every character looks different in each panel. They change, they adapt, they grow. All in relation to what is happening in the story at the time. O’Halloran’s colors are wide and like everything else in this first issue, they grow. The story is making us wait for the rain, we know its coming. The colors show us when it has arrived. The colors show us love. They also show us death and regret. Moving forward the colors and the pencils will work hand in hand to show us Honeysuckle. They will help us with the answer to “What Now?”
Final Thoughts
A story about love and loss. Told through the idea of nails raining from the sky. Throw out the disbelief in the idea for now and focus on the characters. Focus on Honeysuckle. Focus on Rain #1 and you will find what you may have lost.
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