Boom! Studios 2019
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Werther Dell'Edera
Coloured by Miquel Muerto
Lettered by AndWorld Design
Children are dying in the town of Archer’s Peak and the ones who survive bring back terrible stories. A strange woman named Erica Slaughter has appeared and says she fights these monsters behind the murders, but that can’t possibly be true. Monsters aren’t real… are they?
I think James is one of today's most interesting and intriguing writers. He has this amazing resume and yet I still myself attracted to his works like The Woods, The Backstagers and UFOlogy because of their premises and execution. If it sounds weird, involved and surprising then I am in and though we are only at issue two this is one of my must haves. The opening here is a fantastic example of why I love this book already and though I wish Tommy slept starkers but alas. Still the second and third pages for me were absolutely brilliant storytelling and how James and Werther did that is a stunner.
I like the way that this story is being told and how the story & plot development is seen as it reveals the information to the reader. The introduction of characters is smooth as silk and has this very natural feel to it and the crossing of paths oh my how delightful. The character development we are seeing is stellar stuff. The more we see the characters, their dialogue and how they react to situations tells us a heck of a lot about them. Plus that throughout this story they will change, grow and evolve is something to be excited to see. When we factor in the pacing and how it reveals the twists and turns as well as a few revelations it creates this amazing ebb & flow. So as a reader you are swept up in what is happening within these pages.
Sometimes we follow creators because of the quality of their work and James is certainly someone fits that category, so does seeing Werther's interiors. I think for it's more of the work he does that outside the norm that interests me the most, where he can tell stories his way without worrying about crossovers or corporate nay sayers. The feel that this book has with its roots in horror while also having some black humour deftly added throughout makes me love his work. Not to mention someone I would definitely enjoy having a meal with and drinks afterward.
Wherther's interior artwork and the way he is able to utilise the varying weights in the linework to create this attention to detail is mesmerising and impressive. I mentioned it earlier but the two page spread where mother and son talk with all the angles, all the different panels and just the way it's all rendered is eerily good. Plus the splash page is creepy as all get out so the range we see and the creativity and imagination he has on display here is a thing of beauty. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this stupendous eye for storytelling. Now I am not entirely sure if it's the page layouts or what but backgrounds that we see are great and even the partials. The colour work is gorgeous! The way that we seethe hues and tones within a colour to create shading and shadows is brilliant and the white hair with it's shading and now lines is dreamy.
I absolutely adore this and if you couldn't tell by now well sorry. Erica is a fantastic character and I sincerely hope that Tommy is going to be more involved in the book as it moves forward. There's something about the chemistry that could be right and it would be interesting to see. James has a way of engaging the reader so they go off-script and think of things that don't appear and while this is based on each individuals own set of knowledge that's kind of what gives his work such a universal appeal. Brilliantly done and what a way to keep us entertained, thrilled and excited about this book.