Amigo Comics 2020
Created & Written by Jos
Created & Illustrated by M. Diaz
Coloured by H. G. Tobalina
Lettered & Logo by Monkey Typers
Previously..
Barbara, along with the rogues Black and Clenk, is hired by a mysterious man who wants to steal the Sun of Trunza, a famous and much-coveted jewel. Of course, everything goes wrong and after a misunderstanding with the fence Hocker and his lackey Chan, as well as the Thieves Guild of Gerada, the trio of thieves barely escape with their lives to the city of Hisopolis.
I love this book because it doesn’t even try to take itself seriously and instead just has a shit-ton fun along the way. Don’t misunderstand me there are layers to the storytelling here that are extremely nice to see and there are some moments that are kind of poignant or heartfelt which balances out the sheer absurdity of everything else we see. I have to say this is the kind of book that we read to escape from reality for a bit. If you are one of those people who thought that the Blue & Gold era of Justice League International was one of your favourites then this is definitely something you need to get your hands on. You will enjoy this like there’s no tomorrow.
I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. This allows us to see how the events that create those moments of hilarity feel as they are much more natural than say what we saw in Three’s Company for example, though the antics kind of feel the same. The character development we see is amazing and watching Barbara have to go through everything she does until she finally kind of snaps well this just adds another layer of dimension to her character and it’s delightful. This isn’t just about Barbara either because regardless of who is in the spotlight at any given moment we get the same level of character building for each of them. The pacing here is fabulous and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way we see how everything works together to create the books ebb & flow. Not only that but it also helps to show us how well the book is structured.
The interior artwork we see is absolutely delightful. The linework is fantastic and as we see how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out the attention to detail is marvellous. As an added bonus Diaz isn’t afraid of utilising backgrounds which enhance the moments, explore the city and bring us this really nice depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this superb eye for storytelling. The colour work is great and how we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. Plus we see some beautiful gradation, colour blocking and more when it comes to how the colour is applied.
I am a fan of Amigo Comics and they very quietly put out some of today’s most interesting and intriguing stories on stands today. With a variety of genres including horror, RPG styles and science fiction (action/adventure included in all of them) they truly are the little engine that could. This is the company you need to tell your shop to carry, and not just for yourself but for others to see how much fun these books are as well. You’ve got a friend in Amigo.