Even the Oppressed Own Their Lives...

"What's the point of a phantom train?"

Writer: Eric Saward

Format: Comic Strip

Released: March 2021

Series: Lytton #3

Featuring: Lytton

Synopsis

The pursuit of Mr Longbody has unexpectedly led Wilson and Lytton to a parallel Earth, where they have found Artemis, a young woman trapped in an abandoned underground station. With hunters closing in, the only move left is to flick the switch on the mysterious generator on the platform and see what happens...

Verdict

Even the Oppressed Own Their Lives... was another great instalment in the Lytton series from Cutaway Comics! Despite all three stories so far receiving the same rating from myself, I think this just about the edges the previous two and becomes my favourite. Once again it was very pacy and flew by with my reading of it which is always a good sign. The mystery of Mr Longbody deepened which was nicely done and I'm also fascinated that Eve, who had been mentioned multiple times before in the first two instalments, was spelled as E.V.E this time around. That is of course a nice indication that she isn't human and some sort of robot, which is evidenced further by the cliffhanger finish. The continued use of the Aldwych West setting in the London Underground was fantastic and I was a big fan of the cliffhanger resolution of the rockfall turning out to just be digital effects. That was really good in fitting with the digital theme which is quite fun for a 1970s based story. One thing that really irked me was the use of Wilson calling it the '70's' when announcing there was no sexism with Artemis driving as that's just punctually incorrect. There is no need for an apostrophe! That's always irked me and having studied History for four years at university, that kind of mistake was so frequent and a constant annoyance of mine. Now, that's incredibly petty of me as a criticism but it was so glaring! Anyway, back to my enjoyment of the story at hand and the action that came from the digital threats was excellent. It flowed so well and I loved how in control Lytton seemed. He really asserted himself in this chapter with a particular highlight being revealing that he wasn't human at all to Wilson and Artemis. The latter didn't seem too surprised which intrigued me, but the former's reaction was amusing as he didn't seem a fan of all the alien technology and science that has followed the pair throughout the comic strip run. Mr Seaton looked brilliant as a villain and his relationship with Lytton and involvement with Longbody is intriguing and I'm looking forward to that being cleared up in the finale (I assume). The race back through the vortex was tremendous and the visualisation of the journey through from one reality to another was magnificent. This was the best so far for artwork. I thought the moment where Wilson nearly got hit by the phantom train that served as the big panel to name the chapter looked outstanding. I was a big fan of that. The exciting conclusion was done very well with the fight scene and the emergence of the robots. It was fun for Artemis to attack and realise they were rock hard, but Lytton seemed to already know that and know of them. He was taken away in the middle of the fight which was amusing, and then came the cliffhanger which adorns my image for this blog post as the robots seemed to contain the dead! At least, that's my interpretation of the skull within which looked fantastic. As a whole, this was another really strong chapter of what is shaping up to be a great series! Overall, a great read.

Rating: 8/10