
Black Mask Studios 2017
Written by Ryan K. Lindsay
Illustrated by Sami Kivela
Coloured by Triona Farrell
Flats by Louise Fitzpatrick & Alberto Hernandez
Lettered by Ryan Ferrier
I’m a huge fan of stories that start off one way and somehow diverge into something else entirely and you feel like you’ve missed pages in the script that got it there. What Ryan has delivered here is spectacular in the sense that it captures your attention beautifully and leaves you wonder what the hell it was you just read. I get bits and pieces and there’s a few threads I can follow but there’s also quite a bit here that just feels like a David Lynch script.
I can already tell you i’m in love with Sami and Triona’s work on the interiors. The attention to detail is astonishing, the linework is sharp, smooth and and really does have the perfect weight to it. The use of backgrounds here makes me a happy camper as we see the bigger picture of what is going on around her. The way page layouts are utilised through their angles and perspective help tell the story beautifully and the flow is so well done. The emotion and feeling we get from the work is a huge component in “getting” what’s happening here.
The characterisation here is stellar to see. It isn’t just with our main character either because regardless of who we see we pretty know them almost immediately through their dialogue. There’s a myriad of people involved here and of them all it would appear that Asia is the only one who’s even remotely normal and she’s pregnant with her Triggerman girlfriends baby. Ryan has outdone himself here as I don't’ think i’ve ever been able to identify someone as quickly as we do here.
The way the story is set-up here and structured so it flows through the pages is wonderfully done. I like that the book has this seemingly natural flow through character segments letting us get to know a little bit about them as we go along. That we kind go from person to person here without any real warning is great stuff because not only does it keep you on your toes but it keeps us from getting too comfortable with anyone for too long. This way we see kind of enough about each one so that we are left wanting to know more. It’s that perfect amount to tease the reader.
I do think there are times when I thought what the hell is going on here. When we see a team of sorts come into play here I was wondering if there were some sort of Frankenstein Monster maker in play. If the billionaire crazy lady we see also had a doctor on her payroll so she can create these types of folks at her obviously demented thought process. I adore the fact that at this point in time we have no idea if that’s true or not but I damn well do want to come back and find out.
This is not what I was expecting and that has huge for me. It’s kind of all over the place as if follows it’s own unique direction that engages the reader and takes them on a journey that you’ll want to talk about with others.