Scout Comics 2020
By Dave Chisholm
Fiery exploding skulls; super volcanic eruptions; interstellar travel; a mission gone horribly wrong; the ground turned to liquid; a miraculous launch; trapped half a mile beneath the surface of the planet and surrounded by otherworldly fire--the situation is looking dire for Helen and Arther as they attempt to blast their way back to the surface, Helen learns the truth behind the mission to Canopus amping up her urgency to return home.
Well here we are with issue three and the more of this that I see the more things start to make sense and yet at the same time it gets further and further from reality. There is something about the dichotomy of that which I find inherently interesting. Dave makes it look so easy to be able to weave a story that takes time and space and makes mincemeat out of it and puts it back together in a way that just defies expectations. There are few if any moments that you aren’t glued to the book trying to find some semblance of an explanation for what is going on here. When we see the pieces as they should make sense it still just isn’t enough and for that we crave more.
I really am enjoying 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 presented beautifully. The way we get to see the before, before Helen woke up with Amnesia, and how we see thighs now with how the events or situations and circumstances unfold are not just character development they are integral to the story itself as the culmination of all we see is what the overall bigger picture is really about. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way alongside the revelations we see I have to say how everything works together to create the books ebb & flow is pretty amazing.
In today’s world and market there are so few books that you find with this kind of originality and uniqueness to it that just captures your mind and imagination the way that this one does. The reader is engaged from the get to and it has this strange hypnotic effect on you and you cannot resist it. This really does set itself apart from everything else on stands right now and it is something you’ll need to read to fully appreciate it.
The interiors here are really rather interesting as well. There is this way that Dave manages to really capture expressions and emotions so beautifully throughout that it just adds to the mystery and mystique of the book. Also the utilisations of the page layouts are sensational as we see the creativity and imagination and extend to how these are viewed as well. The utilisation of the backgrounds is rather interesting and the fact that the undergrounds of this planetoid is seen this way is truly wondrous. How we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work is amazing and i do like the choices we see and how the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work are rendered.
Scout Comics is home to some of the most interesting and intriguing books that we’re seeing put out today. This is different, off the beaten track and completely and totally enveloping in way shape and form. Dave Chisholm is bright shining new voice in comics and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us after this.