IDW Publishing 2016
Written by Beau Smith
Illustrated by Chris Evenhuis
Coloured by Jay Fotos
Lettered by Chris Mowry
Wynonna Earp, member of the U.S. Marshal’s Black Badge Division, returns from her much needed vacation..
Well for those of you waiting for the show to come back with new episodes here’s your chance to keep up with the ongoing adventures of Wynonna Earp. This time around we get to expand the world of the U.S. Marshal’s Black Badge Division and in fact we get to meet Doll’s boss. Everything here is somewhat unexpected and entirely delightful.
Here we are introduced to Ira Robert Stevens and he’s a werewolf and was kind of opportunist where he worked for the White Wolf. Skimming off the top, embezzlement, they decided to teach him a lesson but the Black Badge Division stepped in and took him for witness protection. You have to ask yourself what is a man like “IBob” worth that the Division would do this? Well the characterisation and storytelling here will give you all that information and more and I have to admit that I like that we’re getting to see that sometimes things aren’t going to be black and white when it comes to things we believe in.
I found it interesting to see that Doll’s only took Wynonna with him leaving the rest of the crew behind. It certainly helps when she’s meeting Doll’s boss Smitty. Who by the way I like and can’t wait to see more now that he’s been introduced. Matter of fact now that we are seeing a lot more of the Division and its operatives hopefully we’ll see more stories where Wynonna is taken out of her normal purview and thrown into situations where she continues to grow and work with others. Things that kind of go against the grain where she’s concerned.
Chris and Jay do some interesting work here. I think the more all-ages cartoon style that Chris has is enhanced by Jay’s colouring. The shading in the Werewolves helps set them apart and make a little more menacing. I’d actually like them to be a lot more menacing but perhaps with Wynonna being who she is that’s me wishing for sharper detail. The way the book flows though through the page layouts with angles and perspective is really strong. So while Chris’ style works for him extremely well i’d still like a little more detail.
I love the way the story goes, the way Beau is able to bring the characters to life and give them their personalities. There are moments that are presented to us that you can see have those moments that have that profound effect on that person seeing it. Wynonna’s growth as well is nice to see and while I like her keeping her brash, loner attitude it is nice to see her warming up to working with others. Still that outer shell she uses as a front gives off that nice comfortable feeling to it that helps the reader also relate to her more.
This a great compliment to the series while also being it’s own separate entity. They work in concert with other extremely well. This is Beau’s baby and no one knows these characters like he does.