ComiXology Originals #3
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Illustrated by Jason Loo
Coloured by Paris Alleyne
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
Call a car, what's the worst that can happen?
So this is one of those books that you read and you like and then think about later and it stays with you. It stays with you in some great ways so that you feel the need to come back to it, reread it and try to figure what it is about this that you can't shake. I am not sure there is some way to find that as Chip is creating this amazing tale of a woman who for reasons she cannot fathom decides that she is going to take matters into her own hands and change another woman's fate. This is why I love comics because people like Chip think up these amazing ideas and then are able to bring them to life and it's just magical.
The story & plot development here as we see the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is exceptionally well done. We see the introduction of new characters and how these situations arise so naturally that make the books structure so impressive. The character development here is awesome. How we see the characters change, grow, evolve through their encounters and how they deal with the situations keeps them feeling like people we can relate to or emphasise with. The pacing is great and it really takes us on a journey through the pages and reveals these twists and turns which create a superb ebb & flow to the book.
The mix of personalities here is utterly marvellous and when you have this many demons in one book it's going to be a laugh riot whether intended or not. Demons, devil's whichever you consider them, when they deal with one another and seeing their actions well even thieves at least have honour among them. So this place they are in is like limbo, they aren't in hell nor heaven and the denizens here range in who and what they are and what they do so what we end up seeing is so delightfully eclectic. Also I think the atmosphere in Limbo kind of dulls everyone's senses so that everything feels hopeless and there are no real options just the inevitable. Which is dangerous and when you lose yourself to thinking like this you might as well be dead because no one should live that way.
Jason's work on the interiors here have been getting better to my eye. I think the more sequential work one does the better the job they do and it's nice to see. The linework here is nicely rendered and how the varying weights are utilised to create the attention to detail is nice to see. I do really appreciate seeing the backgrounds here. When we see them in full force the sense of size and scope of the story and it's emotional impact really are strong. Within the composition inside the panels it creates depth perception and brings us this scale that is nicely done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a good eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. While I wish we'd see more utilisation of the various hues and tones what we do get and more so in the purging with those beautiful array of blues and whites is stunning.
Comixology Originals proves that there is a good market for great storytelling in digital comics. This is just one example of a new outlet for storytelling and with this wider range of places to go for it, this should be one of your stops. You don't have to give up physical copies, I certainly won't, but it's okay to go digital too and with stories like this it's worth it.