Warning: contains spoilers for Snow Angels #3!
ComiXology's Snow Angels began by casting its characters into a desolate world with few prospects except for a series of absolute truths to help guide, protect and control them. Now, it's obliterating the scant few hopes they had and shaking the foundations of their whole belief system.
In this world, the so-called Trenchfolk survive within massive, icy walls known as the Trench. The Trench shields them from the barren wasteland beyond. Before their gods the Colden Ones disappeared, the people were told that the Colden Ones built the Trench to protect them, that the Trench provides and goes on forever, and that those who foolishly leave the confines of the Trench will be killed by the deadly Snowman. For generations, these self-evident truths were effective in keeping the Trenchfolk in line - very few wandered beyond their homes, and those who did only ventured out to hunt before quickly returning.
But like all good stories, disaster soon strikes, and a father and his two daughters are forced to flee from their home and seek refuge far out in the Trench where no one has ever dared go before. And just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, they arrived at a place that contradicts everything they grew up believing as fact. In Snow Angels #3, written by Jeff Lemire with art by Jock, they see that the Trench, which was said to go on forever, has an end. It's now clear that gods didn't create the Trench, since its edge is populated by cranes and other vehicles. The scene proves that mankind began building the Trench and then stopped, abandoning their vehicles to the elements.
What does this mean for the comic's cursed protagonists? Many things, and none of them are good. During this time of uncertainty, the family needs as much stability as possible, and this new revelation rips that all away and leaves them questioning everything they and their ancestors have ever believed. A more immediate problem is where to go next. They can go back, but all that lays behind them is death. Their only real option is to somehow leave the Trench and journey out into the cold, which has conquered the world of Snow Angels.
But this creates even more dilemmas and anxiety. One of their society's gospel truths has always been that the Trench provides and protects, and even though they are undoubtedly questioning everything that they have been ever told, it will still be difficult for the family to convince themselves otherwise. One truth remains that only the reader is aware of: the barren world outside the Trench is in fact quite desolate and, unlike the Trench, seemingly endless. All three issues so far have provided stunning aerial images of the frozen wasteland that, despite the sheer size of the icy walls, amazingly dwarfs the already vast Trench. The family must forge on, but as Snow Angels continues, it's becoming clear that just because its heroes are seeing through the lies they've been told, that doesn't mean the truth can save them.