Aftershock Comics 2016
Created & Written by Adam Glass
Illustrated by Patrick Olliffe
Coloured by Gabe Eltaeb
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
I’ve made no secret how I feel about Aftershock and the books they’ve been introducing. They’ve been fun, enjoyable and left an indelible mark and but now with this new series they’ve entered a new realm for me of Historical Fiction that thrills me to my core. It’s funny as I started reading this I had ignored the cover and dove right in, which by the way tells you who is in this book. So as the story went along and I figured out who was who and what was happening I got more and more excited by the prospect.
For me I felt like this was taking the Alienist, by Caleb Carr, and mixing it with the Wild Wild West, television programme, to create something so realistic, unique and utterly undefinable so as to thrill audiences of all ages and gender. What Adam accomplishes here is magnificent and taking from history using these characters and real life situations that occurred and twisting them around to mean something entirely different takes true talent. I’ve seen my fair share of Documentaries over the years and most of what we see this issue i’ve known but to see it done in this manner was not only impressive but inspiring.
Add Patrick and Gabe to the mix and you have found one of the most perfect teams for modern storytelling. The realism they bring to the table is astounding and the use of pages and panels to help tell the story through its flow is incredibly well done. The nod to being as authentic to the time period as possible shows they did the research and bring that respect to the pages. Plus the imagination and creativity in the fictional parts compliment the reality so seamlessly as if they all belong together.
Though I will say this and it may be a little unpopular but the shower scene was actually a tad erotic and I was hoping to see more ahem. Though that’s when I truly understood who we were dealing with here and as i’ve mentioned in Documentaries i’ve always thought Teddy was something of a stud. The characterization though is what really got me in the feels, it’s like Adam too watched those documentaries and took his cue as to how to write the character. Yes there are embellishments but that’s only natural and it just serves enhance his mystique.
I’ve said it before the dialogue, mainly in the meeting with the four horsemen, was superb and the characterization was flawless. I think one of the side effects of this issue is that it may make readers delve back into history and see what these folks were really like, hey Netflix Documentaries are awesome of that, and personally I hope they do. Regardless what this team has done with this introductory issue surpasess any kind of expectations and delivers something that’s fresh, new and familiar all at once.