AWA Upshot 2020
Written by Michael Moreci
Illustrated by C.P. Smith
Coloured by Snakebite Cortez
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
Cover by Jeff Dekal
In a world beyond the sight of mortals, Heaven and Hell wage war for the souls of mankind. Principal among God's legion are seven archangels written about in religious texts for millennia. But there is an eighth archangel, known only from passing allusions in Apocrypha, who operates under a different code. Fighting without God's sanction, he faces the enemy on his own terms, and shows just how bad good can be.
I love finding new companies who are putting out quality books. Reading the mission statement from Axel Alonso it makes me excited for what this company is doing and what we are going to see. The moment I saw Michael's name attached to this I knew I had to read it. He hasn't done anything that hasn't been stellar stuff regardless of genre. This one intrigued me from the title alone and then when we see what the story is about we suddenly know this is something that we cannot do without. So surprising and so wonderfully crafted this is beyond what I could have hoped for.
The way that this is being told is pretty damn brilliant if ya want opinion. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is expertly presented. Just how the book is able to start with this weird, odd narrative that's a whole lot deeper than I was expecting. Then to see how the story weaves it way through the pages to the end and there is not one point where we aren't curious, interested, confused and completely and utterly enthralled & engaged. The character development we see is phenomenal! I want to know 8, more about him, why he does what he does, the shebang and that's because of what we see here. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps create this stunningly hypnotic effect upon the reader.
I love the that we see Michael and C.P. Working together as well as C.P. And Snakebite because this work is so attuned to what each of them does separately and the makes the sum greater than it's parts. From the subtle to the in your face moments to who in the hell is gorgeous man whose spell I could already be under. This is such modern storytelling taken to a whole new level with how we see things falling into place.
The interiors here are astounding! The linework is exquisitely rendered and how the varying weights are utilised to highlight this level of attention to detail is mindbogglingly good. The composition within the panels that give us the initial focus and then the surroundings bring us the depth perception, a sense of scale along with the overall size and scope of the book. The creativity and imagination that we see in play here is stunning, from that fly to the dog fights to the end reveal it does as much if not more to draw the reader into this place where danger is at every turn and we don't want to leave. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this magnificent eye for storytelling. The colour we see here is gorgeous as well. I love the strategic lighting, see shadows. To see the hues and tones within the colours, the fly or the leaves, brought out to this place showcases someone who understands colour, how it works, how the colours we don't see play their parts and how to make things look like it's real world quality. Bloody effin brilliant work here and I can't stress this enough.
This is fantastic pure and simple. This is what happens when you give creators free reign to do what they want with their story's. The quality and level of the work we see here is truly monumental. This pulls you in, engages your mind and blows our senses into overdrive as you turn the pages and want to only ever see more.