
Skybound/Image Comics 2014
Created & Written by Joshua Williamson
Created & Illustrated by Andrei Bressan
Coloured by Adriano Lucas
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
This series from the get go has been one thrill ride after another. Now that Sameal has revealed who he really is to Aaron and Brennan their story is only going to get a lot more interesting. Meanwhile Wendy and Rya have encountered Mastema who is treating them as a “guest” in her home, she being one of the mages who fled Terrenos. Are they going to bond or are they going to be prisoners to lure Mikey out? All this and more gets revealed this issue.
We open up at Mastema’s where dinner is interrupted. As it turns out “Agent” Kylen whom we know is a hunter from Terrenos and is after Mikey is known to Mastema but the real question becomes why are they all working together? What is their connection to one another and what is the true purpose they all serve? I like the way Joshua keeps weaving the characters in this story into a greater narrative than we’ve been led to believe. It seems that all the mages who fled together kept in touch for a while and sporadically as well.
Before Enoch can go talk to Sameal however it’s time to see him and the boys as they try to keep Mikey from bleeding out. As Sameal gets them to his secret lair, and yes that’s exactly what it is and Brennan calls him a Prepper and that’s pretty much what he is.
Andrei’s depiction of this lair is one for the record books. I’ve sung his praises for what he’s brought to this book from the start but this, this takes the cake. The two page spread and our first look is the kind of stuff that you could hope to imagine and would see thanks to CGI in a big budget movie. His attention to detail, his eye for storytelling through pages and panels using angles and perspective are really unparalleled. Then the walk down the levels left my jaw on the floor, mouth agog it’s that powerfully gorgeous.
The revelations keep coming and they spill forth like from cracks in a dam. From personal history between father and son to the boys and their roles in all this. Nothing is ever what you’d think it would be here and it completely falls in line with everything we’ve seen to date. Including what we’ve wondered and seen from Brennan about how and why he can see not only the Nevermind but the other things he’s experienced also.
Andrei and Adriano again demonstrate such storytelling through the visuals as they match the words with such perfect ease. Aaron is gorgeous man, his son Mikey his spitting image and Brennan looking every bit his age all the while the four of them having that family resemblance is amazing to see. Also the attention to detail like the blood on Aaron’s shirt show that even the littlest of details aren’t overlooked and are incredibly poignant.
This series has never faltered, slowed down or ceased to amaze. Joshua and Andrei’s storytelling keeps hitting plateau after plateau and only seems to be getting stronger with each issue. Who knows where this will even out or if even can at this point? This is the kind of storytelling that is so rare it only comes along once every blue moon.