In this review of Public Domain #8, the folks at Dallas Comics add to their team with a new colorist and letterer. Meanwhile, Jerry continues to plot against his former teammate.
Public Domain #8
Written and Drawn by: Chip Zdarsky
Page Count: 20 pages
Release Date: September 4, 2024
This review contains spoilers
In Public Domain #8, we’ve reached the point where Dallas Comics is adding to their artistic team. We see a few options for their new colorist, before they decide upon Stef (who has the sort of confidence some of us would kill for, and clearly suffers zero fools). We then see one interview for the new letterer. On the one hand, I’m a bit curious about the ones that hadn’t been selected. But on the other, the one they do select (Wilting) leaves a very strong impression.
We move on to the two writers, where Miles ends up drawing comparisons between two creative endeavors he’s involved in and two of the three biggest conflicts going on in his life (the three Domains figuring out how to work together with these new powers versus him trying to learn to work as a team with his own family and these newcomers that’re being brought into the fold, the main character in his novel dealing with living in his father’s shadow versus Miles trying to deal with his own father’s success). That third conflict with his gambling problem comes up more in-depth a bit later. Will avoid any spoilers on that front.
We also learn that the San Diego Comic Expo is coming up, and both companies are working out something to present. While Dallas Comics is lining up to present a sort of preview of their new direction for The Domain, Singular Studios may be going with something more related to their film rights with The Domain.
Analysis
Comics have been an interest of mine since I was a kid (and I know I’m not alone in that regard). They’re a medium that can be used to tell practically any sort of story, ranging from a classic superhero epic to a slice-of-life rom-com, and everything in between.
When I first looked into Public Domain, I had no idea what to expect. Would it be some deconstruction of superheroes in general? Curiosity took hold, of course, and I found myself doing a binge-read of the first seven issues before tackling this one. I came to find myself reading—not a superhero deconstruction as I had half-expected—but a story more about people coming together to create comics. Not my usual genre (being more of a sci-fi/fantasy/horror type), but it has held my attention all the way through so far.
One thing I definitely took note of with Public Domain #8 is the backgrounds. We get warmer tones a bit more often with the scenes at Dallas Comics, cooler tones with stuff involving Singular, neutral in outright neutral territory (such as the coffee shop where Miles and Tanya end up discussing writing, and the aforementioned comparisons with life events), and darker, more ominous tones with anything involving Miles’ gambling problem. Not a ton of detail in most of them (enough to let us know where everyone is and that they’re not just floating in space), but it’s also not necessary. The focus is on the characters, and their situations.
The dialogue works well for the whole thing, each character coming across as a distinct person. Nobody’s going to get Carter Dusk (British Edgelord Extraordinaire) and Dave Dallas (easygoing inker with an affinity for the “take-no-crap” type of women) confused with one another.
Looking at the two new characters, they feel like a good fit for the company. They’re minor in terms of the narrative itself thus far, one being extremely confident in her craft and the other quiet and more likely to let her work speak for itself. Would love to see them given a bit more to do later on, but they have just been introduced.
Public Domain #8 keeps things moving along nicely. We get some progress with both comic companies. When bringing new talent aboard a still-not-fully-established company, there would definitely be a few conflicts, and that’s shown here without it being overwrought. We also get a couple of major developments for the gambling problem subplot, as well as a bit of a cliffhanger at the end that makes me eager to see how issue 9 plays out.
Image Comics provided The Comic Book Spot with an advance copy of Public Domain #8 for review purposes. Find more reviews here. If you would like to buy a copy of this title, and help support the Comic Book Spot at the same time, consider purchasing this book at Amazon, My Comic Shop, or at Things From Another World.
