A Legacy of Violence: Invasion By Obsession

Time to chalk up another comic from familiar names, Mad Cave Studios and Cullen Bunn. Don’t worry I won’t forget to mention Andrea Mutti, he and Bunn are a good match. In any case, Bunn has no shortage of themes that go into the human condition’s terrors. With Mutti’s mesmerizing art from Bunny Mask, A Legacy of Violence is something a lot of people aren’t going to forget with a trade on October, 11.

A True Legacy of Violence

Before we go any further, I have to bring up Unit 731, a topic also appearing in Dark Horse’s The Collector. You may want to skip this section for bringing up sensitive events. The unit was based in Harbin when East China was under Imperial Japan’s control. Even before WWII, the empire conducted experiments in biological weaponry via vulnerable Chinese civilians. By the time the War started, the test subjects diversified with war prisoners of several nations. The subjects were routinely dehumanized, referred to as “logs” by the staff. Everyone from men, women, children, and even babies were guinea pigs to cruel experiments. From injections of diseases under the cover of vaccines, weapons testing, to outright starvation, half of a million people were slaughtered.

But it looks like A Legacy of Violence takes another side to the atrocities. By the time the war was over, the researchers were arrested by two parties. While the Soviets sentenced some of their prisoners to labor camps, the US gave theirs immunity. This isn’t to say either party was innocent, the Soviets built their own bio-weapons facility with data from a Unit 731 document. But the US wanted the data from its source, enough to hide it from the other allied powers.

The Meme of Burdens

It looks like Cullen Bunn is continuing a trend I’ve mentioned before. Memes take many forms, including trauma and burdens. A Legacy of Violence follows Dr. Nicholas Shaw, a Doctors Without Borders medic in 1985 Honduras. Following the doctor is a sinister legacy in two forms. The first is a mysterious masked surgeon passing along messages to Shaw through his victims. As for the second, it hits closer to home for Nick. His grandfather was involved with Unit 731 in some of Nazi Germany’s collaborations with Imperial Japan. But when Nick discovered his grandfather’s secret on a film reel, it seems to have left an impact. But what kind? That’s what sticks in the back of reader’s mind as they engage.

It’s a very enthralling look at how repressed trauma reveals itself. The cat-and-mouse game that the masked surgeon plays with Nick feels like the surgeon is imprinting himself on Nick’s vulnerable psyche. Because, based on his therapy sessions, this doesn’t seem to be the only time Nick has had this psychic surgery.

Plus by the second arc, it’s clear that Nick was lead to Honduras on purpose. Because it seems Unit 731’s meme has already affected most of the other doctors. Or at least it was in the process of turning them over in parannoying suspense.

To Forget Is To Remember

In fact here’s my guess. It’s reasonable to believe that Nick became a doctor to help redeem his family legacy. Around his coworkers he acts like a pretty average guy you want to be friends with. Well, if you’re into a doctor implied to be in a relationship with a nurse. But when his trauma is triggered by a patient uttering the Unit, his persona starts to slip. When he joins Doctor Without Borders, Rus Wooton’s lettering shows off the fear behind this choice. In juxtaposition to the even spaced out dialogue, a single word balloon shows Nick’s words compressed together and seemingly smaller font. He’s keeping things to himself, trying not to spread his secret like a virus.

Or maybe even that the face that was imprinted onto Nick by his family and therapists is starting to unravel.

A Legacy of Violence In Shifting Perspectives

Andrea Mutti’s atmospheric art gives A Legacy of Violence a dire perspective. Almost everything in relation to medical equipment looks uniform and sterile. This is in stark contrast to the characters and what’s being done to them. The characters often have a sickly green-and-yellow coloring when the plot moves forward. It’s like they’re being affected by some kind of sickness. These characters are either about to be treated or subject to terror. One page where these colors meet keeps readers in as much suspense as Nick. Locked doors have always been scary, but it makes a humanitarian hospital look like a haunted house.

I can’t go on without mentioning the monochrome flashback scenes. They feel like they’re connecting to a past even further than Nick’s childhood. Plus the way the white lights from a film projector are on Nick’s face, it gives a great optical illusion. It leaves readers up to interpretation on what’s going through his mind. While the child Nick is in shock, it gets hard to tell if he’s weeping tears with the light on his face.

By issue 5, this scene is built upon with even more hypnotic imagery. The classic binaural spiral shown between film scenes gives readers the same feeling as the child Nick. It’s as if Unit 731 is attaching itself onto the reader’s minds, driving them to keep the idea going.

Dysmorphic Pacing

Which having read the other reviews for this series, that can make or break the whole thing. The pacing can feel slow with how readers are kept in the dark at points. At best it gives suspenseful moments like a cliffhanger at the end of the second trade more weight. But at worst, it leaves readers frustrated when they see one character find out something before they do. Frankly A Legacy of Violence feels like it’s best experienced all at once with how the albums are arranged like a three-act-structure.

Know What You Are In For

A Legacy of Violence has an impressive foundation. By using a real life atrocity and its fallout, readers are in for thrilling look on generational burdens. With miasmic artwork comes an intense atmosphere where anything can happen. Although some readers might need to be familiar with this heart rendering event to fully immerse. Or at the very least, be patient with the slow-burn pace. For that reason this so far gets 8/10.

Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.