Aftershock Comics 2019
By Juan Doe
It's the celebrity wedding of the century, set in an undisclosed, remote location, with no access to wifi, cell phone reception or the outside world. But the dream wedding becomes a nightmare when, one by one, the guests are brutally slaughtered by a mysterious killer who brands his victims with a hashtag.
I am a huge fan of the whole premise here. The idea of going off the grid to have your wedding is something more folks should do but won't as Juan beautifully demonstrates within these pages. People are too caught up in their phones, ironically I use social media on my laptop to do reviews but I have no apps on my phone, to actually going off the grid and the idea causing some amount of anxiety. Social commentary aside the way that Juan not only came up with the concept but in how he's executing it is pretty genius.
The opening is brilliantly done and it garners the kind of interest that you have to see to believe. We all know what Ted Talk and in this version of it we get this conversation between two people about what it is that Blaise Bordeaux-Davis is about, what he does and his plans for his upcoming nuptials. I love this because you have no choice but to read, to follow along because there is definitely something about this conversation that you need to remember. What that is you'll have to see and decide for yourself. It is kind of like the beginnings of a mystery, you need to find the clues, Blues Clues even.
I am impressed with the way that this is being told and the way the book is structured. The story & plot development and the character development that we see here is being incredibly well done. Both are being presented in such a way that we find the characters interesting, not really all that relatable to but definitely identifiable. Also I am pretty impressed with how Juan really does make this seem like it could be a screen play for an upcoming film project. So far I'd love to see a cinematic version of the story as we already have this sense of anticipation, dread and excitement over sensing the killer but not seeing any kind of real motivation at this time.
We are no stranger to Juan's interior artwork. He has a very distinct style and I have always appreciated it for the projects he is on. Maybe it is this project as it's his own and he has this huge stake in it but for some reason I think this may be the best work he's doing. There is a lot more attention to detail in the characters and especially in their faces and facial expressions which do wonders in expanding the characterisation. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a good eye for storytelling. When we see backgrounds being utilised they really enhance the moments and bring a sense of size and scope to the book. The colour work too is well utilised and creates this nice sense of mood and drama.
The way that we are introduced to the characters that make up their guest list is extremely well done. I love meeting the people who mean the most to them and how they show up and invite them to their wedding and so long as no one blabs the privacy issue is perfectly played. The idea that for 24 hours they are going to turn off the phones and put them in a lock box kind of deal is not only a social experiment but it's also a recipe for leaving themselves vulnerable. So will it be one of the guests, a crazed fan who will stop at nothing or just some random weirdo who feels his space is being invaded? I can't say but I will say this I cannot wait to find out!