Shutter #3 sees the aftermath of the attack in the last issue as well as giving a glimpse of the people responsible. Kate now has to venture out without her best friend to figure out what is happening and why. Her first impulse is to head back to her childhood home. Whether or not that was a wise impulse is left for Shutter #4 to reveal.
As always, Leila Del Duca’s work on Shutter is gorgeous, with a world full of unexpected odd corners and happenings. Five pages of the work are drawn by Rich Tommaso. This is one place, though, where the occasionally absurd nature of the comic and the violence collide: One does not expect nervous salamander types driving around in Richard Scarry-style apple cars to be followed by flaming explosions or, later in the comic, a very gory death. There is plenty of oddball transport in here, and an ever-expanding group of species active in Kate’s world. Kate’s house, too, is a wonderful, spooky old mansion.
Keatinge is letting the story unfold at its own pace, introducing new players onto the scene and moving old players aside. There are still flashbacks about Katie’s past, moving more into how she made friends, plus side trips now to see some of the people involved in the plot to kill her, though her siblings have not made an appearance yet.
The letters page on Shutter also deserves a mention: Keatinge and Del Duca are reserving a part of it for recommendations of other comics, movies, music, television, and books, giving the comic’s reader even more material to look at—as though any of us needed it (or let not needing it stop us!)
Shutter continues to be a visually beautiful comic with enough mystery to keep readers curious.
Writer: Joe Keatinge
Artist: Leila Del Duca
Colors: Owen Gieni
Letters: Ed Brisson
Cover: Leila Del Duca
