Mercy

Flashback issue: Charlene’s parents make inadvisable schooling decisions.

In Mataguey, mics are dropped. In the US, the spin begins.

Getting in strangers’ cars: never a good idea. Even less so in Mataguey. Uh-oh, DeShawn and Tiffani…

Travis makes friends. Chad makes enemies.

The heart of the story in “No Mercy” #1 feels real and could very well be happening right now. Alex de Campi, Carla Speed McNeil and Jenn Manley Lee craft a story surrounding a group of teenagers on a humanitarian trip that goes disastrously wrong in a modern day take on “Lord of the Flies.” De Campi’s script is full of authentic sounding teenagers, who are as dramatic and terrible as one would assume teenagers to be, and characters that speak in emojis and texts with design work from McNeil, who uses the plugged-in nature of the kids’ lives to find interesting new ways to deliver information. Because of the size of the cast, de Campi is unable to really dig deep on any one person before establishing a relationship or plot point on another part of the board. Her writing is usually strong in both the teen and tragedy genres, so it’s easy to forgive a lack of depth, but it does lessen the impact the inciting bus accident has on the reader. Plus, the tone of the story will almost cert