Emotional leech? [Syphon by Mohsen Ashraf; Patrick Meaney; Jeff Edwards]

When a fast-living EMT is entrusted with the power to sense and siphon pain from others, Sylas is presented with a new purpose: to ease the misery of those around him. But the more he uses this gift, the more it curses him with carrying the burdens of others’ pain. And it soon attracts the attention of mysterious forces who covet the power for themselves, forcing Sylas to decide whether he will continue his mission or revert to his old ways.

Comic book documentarian Patrick Meaney (Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods, The Image Revolution) teams up with artist Jeff Edwards (G.I. JOE) with a story by Mohsen Ashraf for a creator-owned, noir fantasy evoking the lore of Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS and the psychological thrilling action of M. Night Shyamalan's UNBREAKABLE. Collects Syphon #1-3

Okay, the age old trope of an ancient good versus and ancient evil. Or maybe not even good versus evil, but an ancient villain representing an ancient force versus the hero-like avatars of a complementary ancient force. But there's more than just trope to be had in Mohsen Ashraf's Syphon. We get light romance. And I take issue with the fact that the romance starts post-emotional manipulation, but, as I've recently learned the term "social engineering," how many relationships don't?

Sylas is a found-to-be-worthy-and-power-dumped-upon-him hero. Early in the story he begins a relationship, one that, inevitably and predictably, is taxed by his resulting emotional instability. In his emotionally vulnerable state he finds himself preyed upon by the villain we were introduced to before Sylas even, so was there really any tension in that reveal? Anyway, eventually overwhelmed, Sylas has to call upon the lineage power of others to overcome his enemy and the stark humility and honesty of his reality to mend his relationship. The story is not crazy new, but it's more than passable. 

Touching on the illustrations for a bit, let's talk whitewashing. We have a pantheon of supposedly ancient and diverse peoples represented visually in spirit form. Why then do they all seem to have European features? I'm not fighting on that point, because it's not a question of if, they do. And that's not something unique to this graphic novel, it's a quirk found in many. I just noticed it and grimaced a bit after the fact.

Overall, I liked the story. It was cute enough, although generally predictable. And was space left open for future stories. I don't know that those future stories would take a new and unexpected direction to keep my interest, but I'd be interested in reading further and finding out. 3 out of 5 stars from me.

Bonus, I just joined Edelweiss+. Edelweiss+ being the platform through which I got access to this read. So, presumably, opting for platform exclusive reads, likely reading several graphic novels I'm directed to through Diamond Book Distributors, I am encouraged and hopeful I might hit that 150 GoodReads challenge goal. So, here's to more books!

Syphon #1-3 (ISBN: 9781534320734) is due for publication December 21, 2021.