Gideon Falls Volume 5: Wicked Worlds

/ Alex Good

Gideon Falls Volume 5: Wicked Worlds

Sheer chaos. “Please . . . just slow down,” Dr. Xu begs of Danny when he tries to explain. “What does all of this mean? I am . . . I’m so confused.” Join the club, Doc.

Here it is in a nutshell. After the Black Barn got blown up at the end of the previous volume we’re told that it didn’t get destroyed but was instead “set free.” Whatever that means. What it seems to involve is the multiverse collapsing in on its center point, which is Gideon Falls. You see, “for some reason we can never know,” the “heart of it all” (that is, the heart of everything that ever has or ever will exist in space and time) is Gideon Falls. It was all that existed before the fragmentation into an infinite number of timelines, and now after that initial Big Bang reality is experiencing a Big Crunch back to its singular identity. Because of the darkness. Which is where the Laughing Man/Bug God comes in.

If it all sounds fuzzy that’s because it is. In this volume various characters in different parts of the multiverse (a Wild West environment, a dystopic police state) run away from zombie Laughing Men until they can regroup as the “New Ploughmen.” Which is an homage to the original bunch of Black Barn conspiracy nuts. There’s a lot of running around but it feels like running in place since you can’t even say they’re going in circles. We’re just left to understand that someone, somewhere understands what they’re doing and has arranged things to work out the way they’re meant to.

The plot itself doesn’t advance, but lots of things do happen. The main draw here though is again Andrea Sorrentino’s art. He was really off leash with this series and it’s a lot of fun seeing what he comes up with in terms of page design and layout. So enjoy that, because the story in this part is thin gruel and what there is will probably leave you scratching your head.

Graphicalex

15 thoughts on “Gideon Falls Volume 5: Wicked Worlds”

  2. I have to make sure my nails are nice and short if I want to scratch my head. No cushion of hair after all.

    Is it just the art that is keeping you going with this? Just wondering how the drivel here is different from the drivel in manga and what is the defining characteristic that makes you decide to keep going? I’m really curious if you can nail that down.

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    • I’m in the same boat with hair. Sometimes I still scratch until I bleed.

      The art and design is terrific. I much prefer it to manga. Also the story isn’t the linear manga storyline of escalating difficulty levels. It’s more a circular sort of thing where all these different versions of Gideon Falls slide and crash into one another. Which can be quite interesting, if chaotic.

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      • Oooph. that doesn’t sound healthy. Are you already a zombie perchance? Except, they don’t bleed, I believe. Great, now I’m going to have to go rewatch all of the Resident Evil movies to make sure 😉

        So the art and type of story telling, not necessarily the story itself, is what is selling it to you.

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      • Just remember to wear a hat all the time when you’re outdoors! Bad things happen if you get too much sun on your dome.

        The story itself is hard to pin down. It’s mostly the art and the various scenarios, which are interesting.

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      • I had an uncle by marriage who got skin cancer on his head that went into the skull, so I am VERY aware of that. I actually wear a do-rag at work as soon as I get out of the van. I’m not going to go through what he did.

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      • Yep, us bald guys really have to watch out for that. I see a lot of older men who are having their scalps cut up just to take off the non-cancerous growths. Like I say, cover up. And that’s actually advice for any young people working outdoors. It never ceases to amaze me how many roofing crews for example work shirtless all day in the summer sun. Is the word not getting out? You just can’t do that shit anymore. Even if you’re slathered in SPF 500 that you’re rubbing on every hour.

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      • I had my oil changed in my car at one of those 15min places the other day. The guy who was doing my car used to be a roofer. made me wonder if I could be an oil changer when land surveying became too much 😀

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