Zenescope Entertainment 2020
Written by Dave Franchini
Illustrated by Igor Vitorino
Coloured by Adriano Augusto
Lettered by Kurt Hathaway
Legendary beast hunter, Anabelle “Belle” DiMarco, has always stuck to the shadows to protect the world from its unknown nightmares. But when those terrors start gruesomely murdering residents of a Philadelphia neighborhood, the police are left at a loss. Belle will need to take this string of murders into her own hands, and what creatures she finds behind it are unlike anything she has ever encountered!
Folks I am going to say this loud and clear, this is what a superhero comic book should look like! We have a heroine who fights the evils in the world, which are oftentimes from the Mythological world we have realised exists with our own. Zenescope has grown into a house that puts out books which are true to their roots and now feature some of the most amazing storytelling creators around. This is the kind of book I wanna read, Belle actually beats out Batgirl and Batwoman for me and Robyn Hood is so much better than Green Arrow, so if you think I’m mistaken or full of it, you obviously haven’t read these series. Read them and then tell me I'm way off base, I dare you.
I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is beautifully presented and constantly moves the story forward. Nothing in this feels forced or unnatural and you get what Belle feels and easily empathise with her. The character development that we see here is pretty spectacular! From the standpoint that with each outing we see more and more of her personality emerge and that feeling of isolation that made her build up such walls are beginning to come down. I think Mel is good for her and we need to find more of those she can trust to help her really open up. Still the way we see her is something we can relate to and empathise with so the reader can easily connect with her. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we see just how well everything here works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
The interiors here are impeccable! The linework is phenomenal and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to highlight all this detail work is stunning. I mean that Banshee on page two forget about it. Plus with the utilisation of the backgrounds we see and feel how the characters are either closed in in a space or with the wide open air and all of it just enhances the moments. It also brings us depth perception, a sense of scale and that 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 a strong, talented and impressive eye for storytelling. The colour work is amazing to see. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is gorgeous. That there are more techniques involved in laying down the colour so from the blocking to the gradation what we see being done is exceptional work.
Since her debut Belle has consistently risen through the ranks of characters whom I wild. blindly follow. She is a strong female lead who relies upon her smarts, her friends and her training to do what needs done. There are not many who could sustain this reputation for long and I like and appreciate that she doesn’t rely upon her feminine wiles to defeat an enemy. With some great layering of the subplots and personal feelings this is one of today’s best and brightest characters that you’ll find in comics.