Void Trip #4
Writer: Ryan O’ Sullivan
Artist: Plaid Klaus
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Image Comics
Review by Anelise Farris
Void Trip #4 picks up right where the previous issue left off: Euphoria is anything but euphoric. Ana and Gabe have spent who-knows-how-long pursuing this utopic paradise, only to discover that it does not exist. Obviously, this leads to some deep questions and self-reflection—ones that lead Gabe to give up all together, and Ana to wonder what her next pursuit is.
Void Trip #4 opens up with a series of wordless, landscape panels that bear a strong resemblance to the gorgeous, rocky scenery of Southern Utah/Arizona. The pinks and purples give it a beautiful, otherworldy vibe, and it’s impossible not to feel the terrifying freedom of such an expanse. Ana is riding a motorcycle, barefoot, topless, the epitome of independence in her flared flower-embroidered bell-bottoms. This image is paired with her kicking the urn full of Gabe’s ashes off a cliff: the contrast of life and death, freedom and dread, and a lot of meaningless nothingness swirling about.
Gabe makes a brief reappearance in Void Trip #4, as an AI, to tell Ana how much she meant to him, how perfect she is as a glorious mess of human imperfection. These panels have a strong emotional depth as we witness side-by-side the AI communicating his memories and then the flashbacks of the memories themselves. The wide gutters here and throughout the comic communicate just how much is left unsaid, inviting the reader to linger and feel all that this “void” comic has to offer.
Ana’s mission now is simply to survive: to escape the “little smiley-faced robot police pig fuck” that has been trailing her and Gabe since we first met them. And, as with the other issues, there is a lot of philosophical undertones and societal critique. Void Trip #4 presents readers with one central question: can you beat/break free from the system?
Verdict: Buy it.
In Void Trip #4, the depth of the writing and the gorgeous art continue to tell a story that is as depressing as it is heartening.
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