Chapterhouse Comics 2017
Story by Kalman Andrasofszky
Written by Maggie Alexander
Illustrated by Federica Manfredi
Background Art by David Namisato
Coloured by Caroline Nolasco
Lettered by Andrew Thomas
Hot on the trail of the extra-dimensional invader, the Agents are led right into the belly of the beast: Equilibrum HQ! And Michael Evans is anything but happy to see them. Caught between two deadly threats, all seems lost until the secret fifth member of PACT reveals herself!
This whole Chapterhouse line of books has been a real joy to read. Though I will say this I did read the first issue of Fallen Suns and that and this one seem to be at odds with one another. Parminder met the alien Pharos and talked to him and they had a conversation now this issue has Parminder as a resident here with Pharos breaking into her room speaking a language she doesn’t know scaring the heck out of her. I don’t know which one is supposed to have come first but the fact that they both exist in the same week is a little problematic for me. Somehow the wires got crossed and a lack of communication occurred or there’s a bridge somewhere I’m missing out on.
So I like how this issue opens it’s got a solid amount of both posturing and revelation to it. I have to admit that I like the way this feels like it is supposed to be an undercover, subterfuge style infiltration kind of team. The whole spy set but ramped up because they have powers. No one is doing a book like this right now and that’s kind of a shame because it really requires a more mental approach to storytelling. Intelligence gathering, monitoring, patience and action all the while you got multiple pieces moving across the board and it kind of feels like a complicated ballet.
I do like that we get some great characterisation here. The dialogue is so well done that it helps not only tell us what’s happening, progress the story but it also tells a lot about that person. I also like that it feels as if the team is still in it’s building stage, making mistakes and figuring it out on the fly. All of this conspires to make the book that much more believable to the reader. This doesn’t just apply to the way we see our heroes but it also applies to the villains in terms of characterisation and story development.
I am a little surprised by the interior artwork here. it’s as if Federica couldn’t quite decide what style she wanted to go with. The people start off like some high end animation style until she gets to Pharos and then it takes a nosedive as he looks straight up uninspired and lowbrow animation style and that was a disappointment. I did like the fact that we’ve got a separate artist on backgrounds though why not every panel was then utilised is beyond me. What we see from David is fantastic and makes the page look better than it would otherwise. While the page layouts are used well enough there isn’t enough deviation in angles and perspective present in the work.
Honestly I like the story, how it’s told and the direction things are going in but the interiors make it all feel more like that self-published book that you see at conventions and generally take a pass on. It doesn’t have that dynamic to make you immediately interested and want to jump in. So for me this really is the lower end of what I expect out of my comics, which is surprising since I've generally found Chapterhouse to produce much better quality work.