4 out of 5

Really, you could do this as two separate reviews, as Zegas 1 and 2 feel like very different experiences.  The publication on #1 is Fall 2011, #2 Spring 2012, so a fair amount of time passed between the issues, though for a solo-produced affair, I don’t doubt that was Michel working straight through.  All the same, the structure and style of #2 is much, much more informed and assured versus the first issue’s looser rambling that pegs it as an indie book.  Zegas loosely follows some experiences of brother and sister Emily and Boston Zegas – job woes, relationship woes –  in a maybe surreal, maybe futuristic, maybe exploding world detailed with Fiffe’s explosive lucidity.  Book 1 favors Emily more, in the process of losing a job, and while its layout is actually much more formalized than the following issue – clearly defined panels, straight dialogue exchanges – the issue feels rather wandering and its momentary descents into flourish feel odd instead of elaborations of the world we’re witnessing.  Book 2 is an incredible upturn, though, weaving Emily and Boston’s pieces together much more clearly and using the unrelated mid-story – Habana ’76 – as something of a purposeful pause in tone, in color – that, perfectly, comes across as a scene in-between scenes… one of those moments that just passes us all by, except when memorialized as such here.  Issue 2 also sees Fiffe employing some wonderful sequencing / layouts that are professional versus the experimentation of the previous issue.

3 stars for book 1, 5 for two, averaging out to a respectful 4.