Comic book review: Sheltered #13- Explosions in the Hollywood sky

Artist: Johnnie Christmas
Writer: Ed Brisson
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 26th November 2014


Sheltered has been a clever comic book. Clever, not because it has been doing anything original, but clever because it has kept me reading it for thirteen issues now.

Why has it hooked me? Why has it tempted me to spend my time, energy and money on it? Probably because it hints at doing something more than it actually does. It gives you the impression that something is being kept until the end of the story, something that will make it all seem worthwhile.

Looking at it subjectively it’s been a very formulaic cult leader story so far. It’s about prepper (survivalist) kids, and religion plays no part in the narrative. It's usually religion that fuels real life cults such as this one, so the decision to eliminate that aspect of the story has limited the scope of the book. It doesn’t appear to have any ideological foundation. It’s Lord of the Flies, but not as good.

As the months have progressed the story has become more about personalities and hooking the reader with quick, startling moments of graphic and intense violence rather than trying to say something or to provoke any intellectual response from the reader. The more I read, the less it says to me.

Because it has been relying on action, violence and personality conflicts to keep things interesting, it’s become the comic-book version of a Hollywood blockbuster movie. It doesn’t appear to have anything to say, and when things start to get a bit dull it just blows something up instead.

In issue #13 something gets blown up, and nothing is really said. Cops are surrounding the compound now, and it’s Waco, but with kids, and no religion. The only thing that can save the book is a twist at the end. Will the volcano really blow? Will the end of the world really happen? Perhaps there is something else going on? At the moment it seems unlikely.

The narrative appears played out. Do I care if the government order followers massacre all of the kids, much like they did at Waco? I should care, but the good guys have already escaped, and all that’s left is a bunch of whooping cult followers and their charismatically cliched leader Lucas. I can’t feel any connection to them, not because I hate cult followers, but because they don’t really feel real to me. They are just cartoon/action-movie characters, not real people at all. If they end up getting slaughtered then I would feel as much empathy for them as I would for the villainous characters in a bad action movie. There’s no connection there, and I just don’t care. Just get this over and sacrifice them for a cool looking explosion. That’s where I am with this book right now.

I’ve been reading about these characters for thirteen long issues now, but I don’t care about any of them. I’m glad that it’s all over next month, because I’m running out of things to say about this book. If it has a spectacular twist at the end then that might justify the time and money that I’ve spent on it, but at the moment it’s looking like I made a bad decision to invest in this one.

Rating: 4/10