Zenescope Entertainment 2020
Written by Hans Rodionoff & Adam F. Goldberg
Illustrated by Allan Otero
Coloured by Leonardo Paciarotti
Lettered by Carlos M. Mangual
Area 51
Do you believe we are alone in the universe or are there other lifeforms out there waiting for contact? Is the government keeping them a secret from the public? Is it for our own good, or for something far more sinister? Find out the truth here, as we storm this conspiracy head on!
WARNING This series may very well change how you look at life as we know it.
Now the inaugural arc of this captured the attention beautifully but were pretty much solo issues and now we've got one arc for one story and if they remaining issues are as strong as this one is then we're in for a hell of a good time! The idea of Area 51 has captured the mind and imagination of people worldwide through films, novels and even comic books so what is it about this series that's going to set it apart from the crowd? Right off the bat things start off in such a way as to do just that and you'll have to read the rest of the story to find out just how interesting and unique the take on this is but suffice it to say this isn't what you are expecting to see and by George it is a whole hell of a lot better than you could have possibly hoped for.
The way that this is being told is fantastic! The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. There is a great sense of how this should and is unfolding the more we get into it. What I see here makes me ask questions and the more I see the more my mind inquires and this is how you engage the reader in the story, keep their attention and make them want to see and know more. The character development is interesting and we get a decent sense of who the three characters we meet are. This allows for a whole slew of folks whom we haven't met yet who fill the area. There is some great generation of who and what we see and how this is going to affect the story as it moves forward. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way keep us in this superb ebb & flow.
The interiors here are extremely well rendered and I am completely and utterly impressed by some of the components that we see. The linework we see is sensational and I like that not only do we see the varying weights being utilised but a myriad of different techniques are being utilised as well. This helps create some phenomenal attention to detail throughout the book. The backgrounds we see really work to expand and enhance the moments as well as worth within the panels to bring us some wonderful depth perception, scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is sensational and there are moments where the colour creates attention to detail of it's own and makes the silver type shirt sparkle and it's bloody effin brilliant is what it is. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is seriously, beautifully rendered.
This is a stupendous start to a story as the writing and characterisation that we see is strong and the interiors are out of this world. The level and quality of the storytelling we see here is why I think Zenescope is one to watch out for!