By Cat Wyatt

Barrier continues its unique storytelling style in this second issue. It’s the second out of five issues in total, and it really isn’t afraid to take any risks. When last we saw Liddy and Oscar they were being picked up by an alien spaceship, of all things. I don’t know how they’re going to get out of this situation, but I can only assume that they’re going to have to learn to work together in order to succeed.

Apparently whatever it is that’s actually going on, the US government is aware of it. Or at least, they’re aware that there’s something in their airspace that they didn’t approve of. This may mean that they’ll eventually come to the rescue of our main characters, but I wouldn’t count on it (no offense meant, I just meant it’d be a very difficult task to complete, especially when they literally have no idea that there are humans on board to rescue).

The first we see of Oscar is a flashback; he’s back at some point in the past, and I believe his adorable son is talking with him. If I had to guess I’d say that Oscar somehow managed to get his son across the border, and is now trying to follow him there.

This flashback is more like a dream for Oscar, and he wakes up to a snake in his face. Apparently the aliens have been very busy abducting many different animals while they were here. It’s actually kind of sad seeing the condition some of them are in, and how scared they all are. I’m not going to pretend that this scene didn’t break my heart, because it absolutely did (especially the puppy dog face on the fox – oh my heart).

Oscar is in some sort of organic looking room. It’s very large, and it appears to be at least somewhat aware of what is happening. It shot goo at him when he started moving about more – I think the intent was to bind his legs, but I’m not really certain.

He falls through a bunch of eyeball/egg things (I’m betting eggs, but I sincerely have no idea) and finds himself in a room that looks more like a cave. In that room is Liddy. She’s naked and doesn’t seem terribly happy to see him (I can’t really blame her for being freaked out and blaming everyone possible for her situation).

I have to say, Oscar’s next actions really made me like him; he gave Liddy his jacket (despite the fact that his moving to take the jacket off nearly got him beaned in the head). Also, side note: Liddy found the rest of her horse. Apparently it wasn’t a gang after all, but a botched abduction attempt…on the bright side the aliens (whom we’ve yet to see) managed to grab all of her and Oscar, instead of just bits. So that’s something. I wonder if she sees it that way?

Now that Liddy and Oscar have more or less found a truce, naturally that means something awful is going to happen. A giant eye thing – it looks part robot or squid, pops into the room and tries to grab Oscar.

Here’s the impressive bit; remember how just a few pages ago Liddy was ready to knock Oscar’s head off? Well she didn’t even hesitate to dive into the fray and try to save Oscar here. Which she actually succeeded in doing…it just decided to grab her instead. Oscar didn’t get the same chance to save her, though I think he would have tried (he looked horrified about what happened).

I don’t understand why they moved Liddy into another room, and what purpose that rooms serves. I don’t think she understands either. How terrifying that must be.

This series is already doing a great job of showing how humans from completely different cultures can come together during a time of need and help each other out. More than that, we can already see that Liddy and Oscar are forming a bond. That bond has had almost no time to develop, and yet it there.

Once again the artwork for this series is amazing. They’re not afraid to show the more graphic sides of this story, like Liddy’s horse or her nudity (which isn’t sexualized in the least). It’s all just shown as facts more than anything. The introductory images of the space shift are striking – the hues really make the images memorable.

Score: 4/5

Barrier #2
Image/Panel Syndicate