Amigo Comics 2020
Written by Massimo Rosi
Illustrated by Vito Coppola
Coloured by Viviana Di Chiara
Lettered by Monkey Typers
The End of All Tales
When the old tales of light are told again, the old tales of darkness awake. After millennia, the nemesis of the Ghost Wolf will reveal themselves to Mara Wolf-Arm, Jarl of the Northern Wastes. And also to her son Lif, who now wears the mantle... and this will be their end!
I am super impressed with the story here. Massimo is writing a hell of a story here and I really do like the way the book flows and how the story itself unfolds. Plus to see the beginnings of how the old ways and the new collide spectacularly with these pages. I love seeing the Viking ways and then to see the issue protagonist as he comes through all this makes for rather poignant reader and is very much what has happened in our own timeline so there is more than just a bit for the reader to relate with.
The way that this is being told is exceptionally well done and how the book flows between sections or arcs so that they converge is pretty amazing to see. Also while Mara is Jarl and she's a good strong leader she is also preoccupied with the death of her children and obsessed with finding them and talking to them in the other realm. This leaves her not at her finest regardless of how strong she thinks she is. The opening here is fantastic and we get to see some very interesting and misguided notion that he has. Still it sets up what it is that we are going to be seeing in this arc and it builds a delicious tension along the way.
The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development that we see and how we get the sense of who these people is clear as day and it wonderful to experience these characters so fully. We really do get such an understanding of them so that we can see their point of view and while misguided or full of arrogance the villainy is and isn't any less pronounced. This is the kind of writing that say while it may be the third act it makes it very easy to make this a great jumping on point. The pacing is superb and how it takes us through the page revealing the twist and turns along the way it helps to create the books ebb & flow which is so good that you are so wrapped up in it that you feel it goes all too quickly.
The interiors here are really rather nice to see. The linework is strong and we definitely see Vito's style within the way he utilises the varying weights to bring about the attention to detail is quite delightful. Also to see the way that backgrounds are utilised and how they are part of the story itself is so perfect to see in my opinion. Also how they work within the composition in the panels to bring depth perception, scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is extremely well done. Also seeing Mara's arm the way it is while impressive I do wish it had a more detailed, streamlined way about it to make it more impressive and more frightful. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really nice, strong eye for storytelling. The colour work is fabulous as well here. I like how the shadows are utilised as they are to make the darkness and what lies within it that much more palpable. The various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading and highlights is really beautifully rendered as well so that it makes a nice impact of their own.
This is fun, exciting, engaging and takes the idea of history, fantasy and the world around them to create something that resonates in the world today. Massimo has emerged as a writer of a new generation whose voice needs to be heard and who's work should be celebrated.