Wayward #14

Wayward, Issue #14 begins the End Times.  The Yokai attacked the New Gods of Japan in Issue #13, leading to massive damage to downtown Tokyo.  Nurarihyon courts Segawa, a young "New God."  His power is unlike those of the New Gods in that he can interact with machinery.  Meanwhile, Rori Lane's father, Dermot Lane, is being held in an immigration detention cell, where he exhibits powers of his own.  All this leads up to the New Gods attacking Yokai enclaves in a beautiful two-page spread.

<We're winning.  Isn't that good enough?>

<I... I don't know anymore...>

I love the moral gray area the New Gods lie in.  Their tactics - even involving each other - are questionable, and their goals unclear.  All this comes to a head when the Ghost Eater gets a vision that the Tsuchigumo - the spiders - are controlling them.  Can this vision be trusted, though?  Things get even more convoluted when the Japanese government gets involved on the side of Nurarihyon.

Wayward is really one of the titles I think of when someone asks me if comic books are art or literature.  To me, art/literature is something that takes effort and is rewarding.  Wayward is that type of art.  It isn't the first comic I reached for when I bought comics this week; you have to be in a sort of mood to read Wayward because you have to actually think while you're reading it.  Issues #13 and #14 have been pivotal in that there aren't clear "white hats" and "black hats."  The deal between the Japanese government and Nurarihyon does remind me of a deal with the Devil.

The artwork is fantastic, with lines by Steven Cummings and colors by Tamra Bonvillain.  Red represents one type of magic, green represents the Tsuchigumo and their web-based magic, the magic of the Yokai is different colors but in this issue mostly blue, and Nurarihyon's magic is orange.  The letters by Marshall Dillon are great, especially the inhuman lettering of the eyeball beast that leads to the Ghost Eater's vision.