Aftershock Comics 2017
Story by Tim & Steve Seeley
Created & Written by Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Priscilla Petraites
Coloured by Marco Lesko
Lettered by Marshall Dillon
Kennedy and superman-for-hire Jim Heller are pursued by FDA agents and salaried cy-borgs, in the underground world of black market medical technology! Another pulse-pounding adventure of anarchy and attitude!
The more that Kennedy seems to be having these visions or flashbacks into the life of Dr. Liqui Zhen the more begin to see and understand how things got to this point. While we don’t really know much about the world and why there seem to be territories it is something we want to know. I mean when Jim’s talking Anaheim and Kennedy talks California Republic it sounds like it’s under different leadership, see government. So the more that’s revealed the less clear it seems and the more intriguing it gets.
While I still am not sure what the dosage does to each individual it’s clear that somebody wanted this one strain in particular to be used. Granted Kennedy was more convenient than using the actual person but with them unavailable heh well you can’t be too choosy when you’re on the run now can you. Jim’s powers seem more manufactured for him so as the series continues it will be interesting to learn just how the augmentation process is chosen. I do like that there laws and such in place that are supposed to prevent illegal augmentation but seriously a black market and whatnot will fix that. So the airport has screeners masquerading as people but are really some kind of robotic people.
I’m serious when I say the more we see and learn the more we want to know. We are getting just a glimpse of what is out there and what different peoples intentions are and seeing how Kennedy is caught up in the middle of all this is expertly played. The way that this book is structured is incredibly solid and it’s ebb & flow through the story development/advancement and it’s characterisation place this squarely into my must have reading pile. Just the fact that I feel like I know both more and less than I did before and that I have been drawn into this like a spider into a web that I cannot out of doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Priscilla does some absolutely impressive work here. The creativity and imagination to bring the FDA robot type things and show the transition were some really wow moments. Also the robot doctor with her extensions yeah that was super duper creepy so well done. Yeah the imagery here sets the tone, mood and gives you feeling for what’s happening. The way page layouts are done and that we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows us her eye for storytelling is fantastic. There is some really nice attention to detail and while backgrounds come and go Priscilla and Marco are really able to bring this alive.
There is a great story here and with everything that we see leads to wanting more. Eventually we’re going to want to see behind the curtain but for now it’s just fun to follow the yellow brick road into the unknown. Most of the time the unknown scares people but not me it means adventure and excitement and the chance to discover something new. The characters are great and the characterisation is happening nicely as we learn about them in bits and pieces keeping our interest and our attention along the way. Plus the way that the pacing is here is amazing all around.
I love Aftershock and the books they’ve been putting out as they let creators just unleash their talents and creativity in ways that remind us all why we love comics, all of us including the creator and folks behind the scenes.