What’s the Furthest Place From Here? vol. 2: Safe as Houses

You’ll recall that I thought vol. 1 was one of the best things I read last year.  Writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Tyler Boss’ story of a group of kids, the Academy, navigating their way through a vision of the post-apocalypse where other kids follow the patterns laid down by the adults that came before him was a thoroughly entertaining and original read.  Where other series that pad out their opening arcs with extra-sized issues tend to deflate whatever enjoyment they may have had, the extra space afforded to this title only served to immerse me in it further.

You may also recall that I was a little anxious about the title’s future as there were a few rounds of solicitations where no new issues were solicited.  The good news is that this series looks to be continuing for the foreseeable future as there will eventually be enough issues for a third volume as well.  I know this because vol. 2 skips over three of them to collect numbers 10-13.  It’s a strange choice which is made a little bit harder to accept as a result of how this volume leans into the weirder parts of this world.

This approach means that vol. 2 isn’t as enjoyable as vol. 1, but it’s definitely not without its perks as it builds out this strange world a little further.  Chief among them:  Sid is back!  Remember her?  She was the pregnant girl whose disappearance from the Academy set the events of the previous volume in motion.  While vol. 1 hinted that she made it to some unknown place, we get to find out what happened to her after she left the Academy over the course of two non-consecutive issues here.

The first one sees her hooking up with a bunch of weird kids living in the junkyard who call themselves the Scrappers.  They’re all right for a Family that likes to weld stuff around each other’s heads (in one specific case).  They even take Sid to The Market where she finds the one thing she didn’t realize she needed after all this time:  A dog.  The only catch is that Big Business wants this dog too – they’re good eatin’ you know – and Sid has to consider what to give up in order to get this fine canine for herself.

The second issue featuring Sid picks up not too long after this one and has her encountering the Bold Folks from the first volume.  They were the Family of kids who were pretending to be old people.  We never learned why that was the case, until now when we get a look at what their “god” is.  It’s also a god that, for some currently unknown reason, compels them to turn Sid over to the Strangers.

As enjoyably weird as these two issues are, they’re of more use for the bits of worldbuilding they offer as opposed to any insight into Sid’s character.  She comes off like a charmed innocent in this world with just enough cleverness to survive on a moment-to-moment basis.  That does make her ideal for interacting with the other factions such as the Scrappers, Big Business, the Bold Folks, and the Wild.  We also get to see more of the Strangers thanks to her, including what’s underneath their masks.  While Boss’ work is again quite strong in this volume, the sight that awaits the reader when they see an unmasked Stranger is some real nightmare fuel.

The Wild also get their own spotlight issue of sorts in the second one featured in this collection.  You’ll recall that Oberon, the injured Academy member with the faux-hawk, wound up on their doorstep at the end of the previous volume.  We get to find out what happens to him as he slowly learns their ways and is integrated into their Family.  It’s quite touching, up until the point when he realizes that you really can’t escape your family.  Oh, and the ending of this issue plays hell with the series’ timeline as it clearly takes place much further in the future than anything else we’ve seen up to this point.  While I’m glad that it implies one specific character is going to turn out all right through all this, it does feel like the cart is being put before the horse in terms of storytelling.

Finally, we get to catch up with Alabama and Lafayette who were left at the mercy of the Keepers at the end of vol. 1.  Apart from the Strangers, the Keepers are the only adults we’ve seen in the series so far.  You won’t get any answers as to why that’s the case here as this is largely a prison-break story as the two Academy members try to bust themselves out of the situation they’ve found themselves in.

Rosenberg & Boss milk some good drama from this issue as it’s never immediately obvious whether or not Alabama and Lafayette are going to make it out.  You’re caught between hope and suspense right up until the very end.  While that’s a good thing, I will say that knowing future issues of the series will be coming back here is reassuring as the issue ends with some clearly unfinished business.

Vol. 2 of “What’s the Furthest Place From Here?” obviously isn’t the home-run that its predecessor was.  You may be inclined to argue that’s a bad thing as the hope with any second volume following a promising first one is that it shows the success of that one wasn’t a fluke.  Rosenberg & Boss have chosen a more difficult path to follow here with a second volume that tries to build out its world rather than follow up on its core cast.  I think they’re successful in that regard, though, I’m looking forward to finding out what the rest of the Academy are up to in vol. 3.