Black Mask Studios 2015
Written by Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon
Illustrated by Joshua Hood
Coloured by Amanda Scurti
Well after their introduction and subsequent bonding Madison and Duncan when Maddie went to his place to thank him for the mix tape he made her things got really outta hand. Duncan’s dad was beating him and she went into super power mode and killed him. So now they plan on leaving town for good. First however Madison needs to go home, if she’s leaving town for good she wants her clothes.
I’m not sure what it is that strike such a chord with readers, issue one has gone back for a second printing, but this is one of those books that comes along and take the world by surprise. It’s extremely well written and the interior artwork is superb with it’s attention to detail and the way the the kids look really just capture the reader.
I have to say that when Madison gets home and her mother is just instantly antagonistic it reads like so many teenagers who have controlling overbearing parents. It’s stark honesty in it’s portrayal is really powerful and that whole “while you live in our house” isn’t going to fly this time since she’s more than willing and ready to leave. While mother and daughter can’t seem to ever get along it’s her dad’s mysterious message to her that kind helps you understand the situation on a level I wasn’t expecting. So there’s more to this than meets the eye and it looks like a nice mystery will need to be revealed and even more so with her mother’s final words.
Okay I’m excited, when there’s so much than originally meets the eye it means that it’s going to be even better than we thought and from how this book began and after reading this issue I almost can’t believe it’s gonna get more complex!
Once again Benny enters the picture at the gas station where he and Duncan have this encounter. Duncan kind of scares me here too he’s not just the kid they picked on he now comes across to me as dangerous. So once that’s done Maddie needs to know what the plan is and she’s right they need to figure things out. The banter really is remarkable I mean these two have this whole long time friends feel when they really only bonded recently. They need money and they don’t go about it the traditional way no in this instance the way Duncan thinks is much better.
This whole thing is pretty interesting and it still makes me think that there is nothing truly special about Duncan and he’s just a kid. Granted he’s smart, and a borderline smart/psychotic but I don’t think he has powers like Maddie, who now that they are in a motel finds herself more comfortable with him than ever before.
We’ve all heard the phrase it has this Je Ne Sais Quoi about it, something undefinable that makes it special well this one has it. The right story told by the right person with the perfect art team this story off to an amazing start and it looks to be ramping up to get even better.