Review - A Voice in the Dark #6

Review by Paul Fiander
Should comics push boundaries? Of course they should, for society to grow we need meaningful dialogue from all forms of communication. Thanks to their unique position of being a visual storytelling medium, comics are in a great place to get ideas across to the audience.

A Voice in the Dark has already done a great job in starting meaningful dialogue, the main character Zoey is an intelligent young woman drawn in a way that feels natural she also happens to be a killer. Just this set up has quite a few talking points (apart from the murderer the rest should now be normal) but with this 6th issue creator Larime Taylor has pushed the boundaries even further with depictions of an attempted Sexual Assault. This is not a true spoiler as the opening page carries a warning telling the reader this will occur, it does ruin a little bit of the suspense but in this day and age is probably necessary.

The issue though like the rest of the series is more about Zoey’s character then the events that unfold around her. It feels like we have been building to a crescendo of sorts with Zoey finding out her show is not enough to keep her dark side at bay. We know Zoey has murder on her mind but as you turn every page you wonder if this is the panel where the deed will be done. The beauty of the story though is whether the page is filled with death or dialogue you never feel let down.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the contentious scene it is an attempted sexual assault and shows a man pressuring Zoey into a position where she would be a victim of a heinous crime. Obviously from the terminology this is averted but the fact the subject is broached at all shows a strong writer who believe is this character.

On the whole I do feel the scene (and issue) is well handled, whether the first page spoiler was needed is a question for another time, but I for one love that books like this exist, unless things are spoken about in an open and honest way how do we expect society to change?

Issue Rating 4.5/5
The Comic is available in both print and digital from Image comics. Follow this link for more details.

To discover why the Voice in the Dark show exists read this

A Voice in the Dark #1
We all have a darker side, its human nature to think one way but act another. Our parents, society, the law or whatever influences you have, condition you to keep these darker feelings at bay. The scary/intriguing thing is when a person acts on the darker side and what this can lead to with others and themselves.
Quote from our review of the first issue of A voice in the Dark read the rest here
Images courtesy of Image Comics
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