Humanoids 2019
Written by Mark Waid & Kwanza Osajvefo
Illustrated by Phil Briones
Coloured by Zac Atkinson
Lettered by A Larger World Studios
Breaking out is easy. Keeping everyone alive could be impossible.
First they were locked up. Then their identities were revealed. Now surrounded by federal agents, the Phoenix Six must figure out how to avoid spending their lives as lab rats and keep their families safe. For the ignited, everything is about to change!
I love this book so much. The storytelling we see from these folks is beyond anything I could have hoped for. It is equal parts Teen Titans and New Mutants but in a modern world where hate is stronger than love, at least for now. So what the guys are able to accomplish here is bring today's world and yesterday's comics youth together in a realistic and catchpenny way. These kids have been manipulated since day one when that shooter went on a rampage at school. While I am not sure if Dr. Zhao knew who would gain abilities but it has definitely been taken advantage of.
The writing for this is astronomically heads above the competition. The way it is able to bring the story & plot development to us through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is superbly rendered. The character development is amazing and we see these kids from the first issue through now having gone through so much and we see how these situations and circumstances have helped them continue to grow and evolve as people, as kids becoming adults. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create this really strong, dramatic ebb & flow for the book.
I do wholeheartedly believe that this is how teenagers should be written. Marginalised by adults and thought of as too young to know better and yet having learned more than others realise and have the wherewithal to really understand what they are doing. It is a refreshing change to adults writing what they think kids sound like. It may sound like something simple but it's rather revolutionary in its approach and delightful to see it work so bloody well. Also there is this whole deal with their parents and the reality for all of them about what has and is happening all around them which just adds another layer to the way this is being told.
I love the interiors here. The linework is great and how we see the varying weights being utilised to showcase the attention to detail is beautiful work indeed. One small note is that Luther's face needs more consistency, When he says Dr. Zhao's name ad we see him then the side view and back on full view it's as if he's morphed from guy to girl and it's extremely noticeable and doesn't look like the same person, later when he's using his ability was his hair supposed to go ginger? It is the little things that which fans notice and raise the eyebrow about. Funny it's just the one character however. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous eye for storytelling. For the most part the way we see backgrounds helps us see the depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope for the book. The colour work is gorgeous. I love seeing Shai and how he's pure colour or pure white depending, also just the way the colour is utilised in him to create that effect where we almost want those red/blue 3-D glasses is so fresh and innovative. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is really nice to see.
This book is rocking it out in so many ways. These fine folks are reminding everyone that comics are and can be fun without going too far into the dark places. The industry has officially been put on notice that this series is here and here to stay and it's the light in the lighthouse guiding readers' into a safe haven.