The story so far: fish monsters are chasing scientists and a bounty hunter deep under the sea. But with their underwater base compromised by the fish monster army, Archer, Meeks and co. head out on a secret submarine in a last ditch effort to escape. That is until they see the Godzilla-sized fish monster that shows up to stop them! The Wake has been perhaps my least favourite Scott Snyder comic and issue #5 does little to change my mind. The issue is essentially an extension of the chase sequence that's been going on for the last couple of issues and my attention has long since started to flag at seeing this group of characters once more running away from the evil mermaids. Chase sequences simply aren't interesting to read and I think five issues to tell the story it has is overindulgent and unnecessary. There are a lot of contrived moments in the comic that were disappointing to see a writer of Snyder's calibre resorting to. Meeks reveals he has not only a hidden secret weaponized submarine that's managed to avoid any damage from the fish monsters, but that the entire chamber it's housed in was completely unknown to the crew of the station! Good thing there was a sub and one loaded with badass guns and missiles too just when they had no other means of escaping the doomed station! There's an epic confrontation where a massive explosion leaves everyone dead, except for our heroine, Dr Lee Archer, who is not only unharmed but is able to call her son on the underwater video phone(!) that of course is the only thing on the sub that actually works. It's also a useful plot device to show the reader the fish monsters' plan in action. Well, that was convenient! In addition to these problems, Snyder's still doing character work on Archer even though by now we know this is her last issue. It just feels like a wasted effort I haven't cared much about her character so far and now that I know she's on her way out, I still don't care, and trying to make me care by shoe-horning in more back-story just feels pointless, even desperate, at this point, as if Snyder's trying to get an emotional reaction from the reader that's been missing for the entire series. Sean Murphy's art has been great throughout, his fish monster designs have been truly scary and his giant fish monster in this issue is absolutely terrific and horrifying. He and colourist Matt Hollingsworth have made good use of light and dark especially in the closing pages of this issue as things get darker and darker for Archer. The Wake has had three storylines going on, or at least the glimmer of two alongside the main one, and by the end of this issue, it looks like we've finally left the murky depths of the Alaskan sea and headed into the far more interesting futuristic storyline teased in issues 1 and 2. So the good news is that the Waterworld-esque place 200 years in the future where we saw the moon blow up at the end of issue 2 looks to make up the second half of The Wake, which is a relief as I was thinking of dropping the title if I had to read another issue of fish monsters chasing Archer underwater. The bad news is that issue #6 won't be released until February and that the price, as of this issue, has jumped from $2.99 to $3.99, which is understandable given that this is Vertigo's top-selling title. The Wake #5 isn't a bad comic though it's hampered by the creators' reputations for producing quality work anything less than stellar is disappointing. That said, regardless of the creators, The Wake remains a very average series, or at least the first half is the second half, with its promises of an insane future world? That looks amazing and could salvage the series. To the future!
Published by Vertigo, The Wake #5 by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy is out now