‘The In-Between, Vol. 1’ OGN (review)

Written by Shane Roeschlein 
Art by Dean Kotz
Published by Insight Comics

In what may be a first for me, I found the actual solicitation for a book a lot more forthcoming and interesting that the actual book itself. The solicitation tells us that a spaceship appears in Earth’s orbit, firing a beam of energy that causes ripples in space-time. Supposedly.

The In-Between Volume 1 focuses on two agents for the Terror Management Agency, Gann and Somerfield.

Somerfield is the gruff, experienced agent. Gann is the fresh faced agent.

Together, they find themselves in a strange town in the Mojave Desert. A strange woman appears out of the skies, and walks into the town only to spontaneously combust.

With local law enforcement being uncooperative, the agents wander into the desert to investigate.

Only to find themselves in deep trouble facing a giant monster.

Meanwhile, their boss at the Terror Management Agency, located in Manhattan in the shadows of the never fallen Twin Towers, travels to a California research facility. A research facility investigating strange signals. An alternate universe featuring the Twin Towers still standing was a novel concept in the first season finale of Fringe. Way back in 2009.

In 2022, the idea just made me yawn and find out where Fringe is currently streaming.

This collection is listed as Volume 1, but the story feels so incomplete. It really is a case where a Volume 1 should include more story to give you a complete narrative.  What is available gives me very little interest in following this story any further. The mystery as laid out is not compelling. The characters feel one dimensional, with hackneyed dialogue to go with it.

The solicitation states “These rips expel torrents of reality-distorting energy and are used by malevolent entities to travel between dimensions.”

So that’s what’s happening here.

The best thing that I can say about this book is that Dean Kotz’s art feels as if anything can happen. There is a monster attack scene that pops off the page as creepy and messy. His art as a cartoony feel, yet captures the darkness in the certain scenes.

If you like your collected volumes to tell a full, coherent tale, even if they left some threads dangling for a future volume, The In Between Volume 1 is not for you.

Ultimately, it’s an empty story lacking characters.