Scout Comics 2019
Written by Sheldon Allen
Illustrated by Armin Ozdic
Lettered by Matt Bowers
The world's deadliest contract killer just received his next target: A man some believe to be the modern Jesus Christ. Lucas Blank, a gun for hire, finds himself contracted by a powerful NGO to execute a figure known only as the Messiah, who recently stopped a Los Angeles race riot with a single word. Lucas is a professional and it's just another job until he has his finger on the trigger and is about to complete the job, that is, until the Messiah sees him and he suffers a crisis of conscience. The NGO becomes more desperate than ever to see the Messiah dead at any costs, including sacrificing those that Lucas holds most dear. One bullet. One kill. A billion consequences.
Well I was somewhat sceptical of this from the Title but after reading it I feel it’s just the right kind of offensive and disturbing on every level to make it fascinating. Seriously it is kind of over the top in terms the exaggerated scenario we see but then again this is comics and something has to be that way otherwise desperation wouldn’t set in and things would have progressed differently. So the opening is well done indeed it shows how in Los Angeles the riots were running amok and the violence escalated way beyond what is or can be manageable. It is strong opening and introduces us the character in question beautifully.
The way that this book is structured is well done and the ebb & flow of information and pure story is well executed. There is a way that Sheldon tells this that it almost feels as if the story bleeds into much more than the words tell us. You see hints, visual clues of this happening and it’s a progression for sure but it’s nice to see it happen as organically as we do. Our introduction to Black Jesus is just as dynamic and interesting. I keep coming back to the exaggerated way this looks to me and while it is exactly what it needs to be I am just extremely impressed with how this is managed and how well it’s executed. This is a great introduction to a series here and whether you believe in a Messiah or not isn’t relevant because for the purposes of the story it’s perfectly acceptable.
The interiors here are really rather nice. I love the way we see the linework utilised within these pages. The attention to detail that we see is spectacular and the way the varying weights are seen really make some fantastic standout moments. The composition within the panels themselves is extraordinary and how we see backgrounds utilised to bring the city into play, how they flesh out moments is great I only wish we’d see a lot more, ie every panel. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong and talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is nice and I wish some folks were shown with stronger varying skin tones but on the whole the way we see light sources utilised for shading, shadows and even some rather subtle colour gradation is nicely done.
I keep saying that Scout Comics is home to some good storytelling and it’s one of the “new breed” of company’s that really make sure the quality of what we see is extraordinary. This is where new talent, new creators get to rise up and shine putting the industry on notice that they’d better be watching. The strength of the story & plot development alongside the pacing and the character development wrapped up in some very expressive and understated interior artwork make this one you need to be reading.