Wasteland, Book 6: The Enemy Within

WASTELAND, BOOK 6: THE ENEMY WITHIN

Collects WASTELAND #s 26-31

Individual narratives tracking the experiences of Yan, Jakob, Skot, Dexus, and Golden Voice, the movers and shakers of Newbegin, across six months push the story of WASTELAND ever forward.  Writer Antony Johnston covers the same basic framework in each of the stories, but never loses the fascinating thread of those who are trying to survive the insane politics of a fallen world.

Yan is the son of the late fallen Primate of the Newbegin governing council, Heddor, who died in the recent Sand-Eater attack.  The boy betrayed his own father to the benevolent tyrant Lord Founder, Marcus, and was easily one of the more despicable characters in earlier issues for it, though not a particularly major one, hence the reason I have not yet mentioned him in any significant fashion.  Ironically, his narrative thrusts him into ever more complicated relationships, with Marcus putting him in the household of the near-treasonous Neelan, who ailing daughter Lyndder holds the key to awakening Yan’s compassion, and his ability to see nuance in the world.

Jakob, meanwhile, has been on the opposite trajectory, becoming more embroiled in the messy politics that have him betraying his own people, the Sunners, in return for serving as High Disciple of the Watch under Dexus, all because he believes his adopted mother Abi has been killed (she wasn’t, and is presently traveling with Michael to fabled A-Ree-Yass-I).

As he always is, Skot is the pivot upon which everything turns.  Serving as Primate on the Council, he holds authority he doesn’t want and can’t use because he loyalties lie with the Sunners, who at the beginning of this six-month period have just won their general freedom, though they’ve traded oppression under the lash for oppression by occupation (little difference) and have reacted by turning to terrorist acts to express their unrest.

The only one pleased about any of this is Dexus, Watchman, who is increasingly unrestrained in his activities, even though like everyone else he’s complicit in events that have only complicated matters, having been witness to Skot helping Michael and Abi exit Newbegin and participating in the web of lies over Jakob and he was thusly manipulated in working against his own people.  Imposing more civil restrictions, Dexus actually achieves his goal of learning the identity of the Sunner leading the revolt, who turns out to be Golden Voice.

Represented early on as leaving Newbegin in disgust over the Sunners willingly submitting to service in the Watch, Golden Voice actually stuck around and prepared to usher a revolution, and he might have been successful, too, or at least lived to tell about it, if he weren’t in Newbegin.  His execution is the single dramatic moment that pushes the story of WASTELAND definitively forward after so many issues of fascinating quagmire and moral ambiguity.

That makes THE ENEMY WITHIN a turning point not to be missed.  Everything is about to change, and anyone interested in the best comic book in the market ought to take notice.  WASTELAND also officially bids adieu to Christopher Mitten in this volume, a fitting transition moment for the original series artist, whose art is noticeably altered in these pages compared to his efforts in other collections.