Blackwood: The Mourning After #1
Dark Horse Comics 2020
Written by Evan Dorkin
Illustrated by Veronica & Andy Fish
Lettered by Greg McKenna
Blackwood College is in mourning after the death of Dean Ogden, unaware there's a traitor in their midst looking to bury the entire school. Meanwhile, the students continue to deal with Dennis's death, a situation that Reiko not only refuses to accept but plans to rectify. Will mayhem ensue? Duh.
I am a huge fan of this book. There has to be more tot his than what we're seeing here because this is all kinds of awesome so if there are novels and such I'd love to know about them. But hey I am thrilled that Blackwood is back for another arc because the first one was freaking amazing! With so many teen style magic drama's or just teen soap drama's, thank to the CW & Freeform, this one is really taking a much darker approach than we're used to seeing. Legacies comes close but this is still better. I like that this is real, for lack of a better word, in that it's a magic school and there are those that attend that don't fit the norm and do fit certain stereotypes. It just that natural feel to the book that helps us find our own niche in it.
Evan does a spectacular job with the writing here. The story & plot development as we see through the sequence of events unfolding and how the reader learns information is exceptionally well presented. Also I really like the fact that while it helps if you've read the first arc it isn't completely necessary in order to enjoy this one. Everything we need to know is laid out and a mild catch up on previous events does occur. So the way that this is being told is impressive to say the least. The character development that we are seeing is really rather quite good. We see the kids personalities and we see them continue to grow and evolve as they encounter situations and circumstances. New characters are introduced and their personalities are “established” but our opinions of them may change the longer we see them throughout the arc. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it manages to be creepy, fascinating, entertaining and mysterious generally all at the same time. The way all this works together to create the books ebb & flow and showcase how the book is structured is marvellous.
The interior artwork here is fantastic. The linework that we see through it's varying weights bring out the attention to detail beautifully. That there are a lot of unusual things that need to be shown the creativity and imagination that we see shines through. Also there is the magic we see as well or the result of a spell and the Fish's really get to unleash some great stuff here. The way we see the composition within the panels and how they show depth perception, scale and the overall sense of size and scope is extremely nice to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective inside the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour work is really nice to see as well. The hues and tones we see within any given colour utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rendered beautifully. Whomever is responsible for the writing portion that made up the body well holy effin Mackerel that's some bloody genius work.
Well with everything we see within these pages and the body of the monkey in silhouette as it listens to them in office just makes me want to see more. Oh and that monkey is amazing and nasty and delightful so I may not be a happy camper and I hope that isn't the case. What we see here is just good old fashioned solid storytelling. A catalyst to see the kids starting to bond, a mystery that needs solving and intrigue that hasn't reared it's head fully yet. It is dark fun pure and simple and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Dark Horse Comics 2020
Written by Evan Dorkin
Illustrated by Veronica & Andy Fish
Lettered by Greg McKenna
Blackwood College is in mourning after the death of Dean Ogden, unaware there's a traitor in their midst looking to bury the entire school. Meanwhile, the students continue to deal with Dennis's death, a situation that Reiko not only refuses to accept but plans to rectify. Will mayhem ensue? Duh.
I am a huge fan of this book. There has to be more tot his than what we're seeing here because this is all kinds of awesome so if there are novels and such I'd love to know about them. But hey I am thrilled that Blackwood is back for another arc because the first one was freaking amazing! With so many teen style magic drama's or just teen soap drama's, thank to the CW & Freeform, this one is really taking a much darker approach than we're used to seeing. Legacies comes close but this is still better. I like that this is real, for lack of a better word, in that it's a magic school and there are those that attend that don't fit the norm and do fit certain stereotypes. It just that natural feel to the book that helps us find our own niche in it.
Evan does a spectacular job with the writing here. The story & plot development as we see through the sequence of events unfolding and how the reader learns information is exceptionally well presented. Also I really like the fact that while it helps if you've read the first arc it isn't completely necessary in order to enjoy this one. Everything we need to know is laid out and a mild catch up on previous events does occur. So the way that this is being told is impressive to say the least. The character development that we are seeing is really rather quite good. We see the kids personalities and we see them continue to grow and evolve as they encounter situations and circumstances. New characters are introduced and their personalities are “established” but our opinions of them may change the longer we see them throughout the arc. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it manages to be creepy, fascinating, entertaining and mysterious generally all at the same time. The way all this works together to create the books ebb & flow and showcase how the book is structured is marvellous.
The interior artwork here is fantastic. The linework that we see through it's varying weights bring out the attention to detail beautifully. That there are a lot of unusual things that need to be shown the creativity and imagination that we see shines through. Also there is the magic we see as well or the result of a spell and the Fish's really get to unleash some great stuff here. The way we see the composition within the panels and how they show depth perception, scale and the overall sense of size and scope is extremely nice to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective inside the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour work is really nice to see as well. The hues and tones we see within any given colour utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rendered beautifully. Whomever is responsible for the writing portion that made up the body well holy effin Mackerel that's some bloody genius work.
Well with everything we see within these pages and the body of the monkey in silhouette as it listens to them in office just makes me want to see more. Oh and that monkey is amazing and nasty and delightful so I may not be a happy camper and I hope that isn't the case. What we see here is just good old fashioned solid storytelling. A catalyst to see the kids starting to bond, a mystery that needs solving and intrigue that hasn't reared it's head fully yet. It is dark fun pure and simple and I wouldn't want it any other way.
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