This issue of Underground devotes nearly all the attention to Forest Rangers Wes and Seth. The thugs who seek their hides barely warrant a panel, but that doesn't make Wes' and Seth's plight less dangerous or less engrossing.

The variety of threat arising from a single setting fascinates. Parker just looks at the natural pitfalls and uses them to the fullest. At the same time, he keeps the plot from overwhelming the book by orchestrating Wes and Seth in constant dialogue that always sounds natural and interesting.

The story challenges Steve Lieber to craft scenes I have never before witnessed in a comic book. It would be very difficult to write Underground as a novel and describe the way Wes and Seth escape, but although a picture is literally worth a thousand words, you still marvel at how Lieber controls the unusual angles. Lieber's art heightens the suspense and makes the way Wes and Seth escape believable.

Ron Chan doesn't get too much of a workout this issue. His colors come into play when Parker shifts the focus from Wes and Seth to outside rescue efforts. Chan's organic colors sharply contrast the eerie strobe whites in the cave, and this gives the whole story more verisimilitude. Wes and Seth seem to be trapped in an almost alien world, but this world isn't set in the vacuum of space. It's taking place in a very recognizable reality.

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