By Cat Wyatt

If the cover is any indication, it looks like Evolution #3 is going to be a bit more graphic than the previous two, or at least more confrontational (I don’t think you can top the implied vivisection that occurred). The cast remains the same, with no newly introduced characters, which is good. I feel like the plot is complicated enough without adding more people to the mix.

Once again I’m going to focus on one character at a time, rather than the storytelling style used for the comic. It just doesn’t translate as well for conversing (though it is fantastic to read in that manner, for the record).

Remember that creepy ceremony that we saw back in the first issue? Its back, only now we have a connection to the people we know. The nun was dreaming of a pretty brutal ceremony, what I don’t know is how real it is. Is it a nightmare? A memory? Or a premonition of some sort? Likely it’s the former, but it’s hard to be certain of anything in this world I’ve been reading about. One thing I do know: the word ‘praegressus’ is mentioned multiple times, bringing the count into the double digits for mentions in the series. I’m sure this is going to led somewhere.

I took a minute to hunt down further possible meaning for praegressus, as I’m legitimately curious on where they’re going with this. It looks like it pretty much means to move on, advance, or, and this is the important one I think, to evolve. Which makes sense, given the cover. But why is it being chanted so? That’s the real question, isn’t it?

Looking back on it, I may be making an incorrect assumption about the nun having had that dream. We see the ritual, and then see her wake up while screaming no. This could be a coincidence, though I kind of doubt it. Still, there’s enough room for doubt here so me to be less than certain.

Hannah desperately wants to track down where Steffen (the man who died in the first issue) came from. She feels compelled to retrace the steps he took, figure out how and why he got here. The priest seems less than interested in humoring her. In fact, he seems to be actively blocking her from trying to do this; either he’s involved somehow, or the ‘cops’ in the previous issue paid him off to stay out of it (which would include everybody under him as well). I think the latter is more likely, but again I can’t say that for certain.

Meanwhile back in California, Claire is having a lot of trouble dealing with everything she’s seen in the last couple of days. First she saw a family friend murder…something, and then that tape. I have to say, I don’t envy her having seen that thing. I can only imagine how horrifying it would be. Her girlfriend says she doesn’t think it’s real, but to be honest I think she’s saying that for Claire’s sake.

As if what they’ve witnessed isn’t enough, Claire’s debt is suddenly paid for. It sounds an awful lot like hush money, doesn’t it? If Mr. Hurwitz is anything like the man Claire described, I’m not sure she’s reading his motive correctly. He could be paying off her debt so she’s free to run (she was told to run after all; perhaps he meant that to be more than ‘get away from me’). Alternatively, he could be spending the last of his money on her, knowing he doesn’t have that much longer to live or something like that. Or it could legit be him paying her for her silence. Hopefully we’ll get an answer shortly.

Dr. Hurley is also having a bit of a rough time. He bit off more than he can chew, trying to capture that live specimen - I guess that means the tape found wasn’t recorded by him, which is a huge relief. Unless this was merely his first attempt at grabbing somebody…

He’s seeing the signs of infection in more and more people, and yet nobody, not even his wife, will believe him. Apparently he’s got some skeletons in his closet (shock, I know) that make him an unreliable source to most people, which I can’t really blame them for feeling that way. He certainly sounds unhinged, and that’s without taking into account all the disreputable things he’s actually done.

I’m not really sure where these three perspectives are going, or how they’ll end up connecting to each other (assuming they do at all). They’re going with the slow and steady approach for building up the plot. By now we’ve got the basic understanding of course, but we still don’t understand the how or why of this infection. At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue enjoying/reading this series, but I feel like I keep going deeper down the rabbit hole, and now I just have to find out what happens next.

The art style is the same as the last couple of issues; a rougher sort of hand drawn look about it. I think it’s perfect for the story being told here. It almost adds a bit more of a horror element on its own, like you know the style carries its own emotion and weight with it.

Score: 4/5

Evolution #3
Image Comics