Tidalwave Productions 2019
Written by Darren G. Davis & Ryan Burton
Illustrated by Carlos Silva
Coloured by Flavio Silva
Lettered by Ben Gilbert
There is a line of evil creatures with a vendetta against the 10th Muse. Cronus, Circe and Sonnet have conjured a new villainess to the mix. Meet Justice and she is after the Muse and her friends. All this to try to bring back 10th Muse's classic foe Medusa as well as a the frightening Charybdis.
There are times when a revival is more than welcome and this happens to be one of those times. I believe that there is something about this franchise that screamed to come back and I am really glad Darren listened to that. We need books, characters and stories like this one because they are what comics are all about. This for me is what a classic superhero story should be, you've got 10th Muse who has daddy issues, when he's Zeus though that comes with the territory I suppose, and yet she does her best to defend humanity from any and all threats. So basically it's the epitome of a superhero book.
The way that this is being told is fantastic. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid down perfectly. I am a fan of learning as we go, this way we are kept in the dark until the characters learn something. For me anyway this heightens how we see and react to what is presented and that kind of tension is instilled beautifully. The character development that we see here is great. I like how what we see in the characters and reacting to those encounters help to continue to shape who they are. I like how we are introduced to characters and through villainous monologuing we really get to know what motivates and drives them. The pacing is great and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create this marvellous ebb & flow to the story.
So what really appeals to me is the creativity and imagination that we see throughout the book. To put a different spin on the gods and their demi-god children isn't easy and it's easy to see why 10th Muse has been able to make her mark and it's also why I feel her return is long, long overdue.
I do very much like what I am seeing in the interiors here. Carlos is darn fine artist and illustrator and the way can utilise the linework through it's varying weights to bring out the attention to detail is utterly marvellous. I am a huge fan of the way we see the linework in the faces and how they bring out the facial expressions or how scaling is done as they have this beautiful impact upon what we see. The way that we see backgrounds being utilised and then within the composition inside the panels show the great depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an impressive eye for storytelling. The colour work here is so gorgeous as we see that the various hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the musculature, hair (without linework) as well as the woods or oceans. There is a beautiful understanding on how colour works and how to utilise it effectively to make it be more than you thought it could.
This is fun, it's reminiscent of the 80's where comics were supposed to be bright, light and full of action/adventure stories, yes even with a little humour thrown in for good measure. So if you are tired of constant reboots, crossovers and the dark angsty stuff that permeates stands today and want to read a series that makes us remember what comics should be, well this is it.