*MINOR SPOILERS BELOW*

The story of Low #16 is a flashback. We go back to the past to set up the future. I will admit I was confused when I began the issue. The story focuses on Marik, his mother Stel, his friend Zem, and IO, a character that was new, or at least I did not remember them during this arc. In the last issue, we saw Stel and Zem together and it ended on a massive cliffhanger. So anyone looking for answers to what happened, won’t get them here. When you finish this issue, you can see it is obviously a setup issue for things to come, but when I was reading it, that was not apparent. Now set up issues aren’t bad things, this just didn’t move the story along at all, but I trust writer Rick Remender, and if he felt this was a necessary issue, I will be patient.

The only thing trying that patience is that the series left us (as it often does), with a massive cliffhanger as I mentioned earlier. After we had a break for the trade to be released, I had hoped we would return where we had left off, but again, I will be patient. I promise. Okay, so being patient is hard and I just want to know what happened to Stel, Zem, Tajo, and Della! I will say though that the introduction of IO seems like it will be a huge payoff as we see some earlier events from another perspective, and the reveal of who or what IO really is was pretty cool. This kind of reveal could have a major impact on the series as a whole, and again, we are dealing with a master storyteller in Remender.

The art by Greg Tocchini is fantastic as always. We get to see underwater arena fights with massive sharks, and other beasts as our heroes fight to survive. Again, this is from an earlier arc, but that was an awesome and action-filled arc, so it was good to see this revisited in this fashion. The original art style is refreshing and draws your eyes to each page. Some of the full page spreads are breathtaking and beautiful, yet jaw-dropping and violent. The colors are vibrant and flow from yellow to green to blue to purple to red in some great scenes. This is a book primarily taking place underwater, or at least away from sun light, and the art showcases that, while still giving us some deep and bright colors.

I am positive once the next few issues hit, we will know more about why this narrative choice was made, and what IO means to the overall story. Remender says this right off the bat in the letters section. But for the time being, it was nice to see a character from the stories past, and from another perspective. If you have been reading Low, this is a great issue, but remember, you aren’t getting any answers from where we were left from issue #15, and that is okay. If you are not reading Low, you should give it a whirl. Like most Remender stories, it’s original, refreshing, action packed, and moves at a breakneck speed. No other writer gives the industry more twists and turns, and I suspect some more major ones coming very soon.

Story: Rick Remender Art: Greg Tocchini
Story: 8.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Image provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review