
Scout Comics 2020
Created & Written by Eric Palicki
Illustrated by WEndell Cavacanti
Coloured by Mark Dale
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Lovecraft meets Leone in a modern tale of corruption, family legacies, and nightmarish dread. The monsters tormenting Atlantis county have revealed themselves, and Lucas Lewis sets in motion his plan to rid the town of their scourge forever. too bad for lucas, the town of atlantis has yet to give up all its secrets, and do its citizens even want to be saved?
This is an amazing story thus far. There is this whole feel about that screams at the reader and at me saying where are Sam & Dean because this town needs them. So what I am saying is that there is the familiar essence at its core and yet this is as surprising as they come. It is fresh, feels current and above all else manages to intrigue the reader even as it pulls it deeper and deeper in this unknown abyss. There really is this natural pull in what we read and how it’s presented to us that really makes the structure of the book really shine. Also the layers within this are magnificent and it feels like we’re getting so much more story than a normal page count has any right to be.
The way that we see the story & plot development here is utterly phenomenal. How we see the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is really exceptionally rendered. For me the way I see how all of these bits throughout the book come to life and how they connect with each other to really release information in a new and distinct way leaves me chuffed. The character development that we see is stunning and as we hear their conversations they reveal so much more than you think they would. The pacing is amazing and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way makes it easy to see how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
There are a number of factors in play here that make this as successful as it is and I have to say that it is the perfect storm as everything we see falls into the right space like magic. It creates something hauntingly beautiful and terrifyingly fascinating all at the same time and defying gravity is the least of the craziness.
I am a huge fan of the interiors here as well. The linework is more than really nice and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to bring out the detail work is extraordinary to see. I love that when we look at the work on the pages we get an emotional response and it has that ability to make you feel tense, apprehensive and curious beyond belief all by how the characters here are presented. The utilisation of backgrounds to enhance the moments or show local are things I would like to see more of. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a nice, solid eye for storytelling. The colour work is utterly fantastic as well. I love seeing the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. It’s impactful to see this work with these words.
Scout Comics is home to some of today’s best and brightest and these are the storytellers you need to watch out for. The quality and level of the storytelling that we see here is truly extraordinary.