Skybound/Image Comics 2020
Written by Justin Jordan
Illustrated by Benjamin Tiesma
Coloured by Mat Lopes
Lettered by Pat Brosseau
Bree Hale has left a lot behind in her life. Crime. The military. But she can't leave behind her own family, and when the local crime boss puts a hit out on her brother, there's nothing she won't do to save him. Absolutely nothing.
Well I am just as happy to return to the life of Bree Hale as Justin was to write this. I also happen to be a fan of the fact that this isn’t picking up where we left off, well not entirely it is several years later as a matter of fact. Kind of as real life time has passed and this lends a different air to what Justin does and the choices he makes in his writing that make us follow him and keep reading his work. Frankly, his own work, not the corporate stuff because eh, it doesn’t feel the same when you don’t have total control over what you are doing and this is something we readers do notice.
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 spectacular. The opening is a powerful reminder of this world that he’s created and leaves a very strong indelible stain upon you and makes you want to see and know more. The character than development doesn’t disappoint in the slightest as it starts off stronger than Auchentoshan 1978 and never lets up. It leaves this desire in me to get to know a few a lot better than their introduction allows. Suffice it to say the layers we see and the ever shifting kaleidoscope of characters that come into play keep us entertained without needing a score card. The pacing is marvellous and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way. How all of this works together to bring out how well the book is structured and how enjoyable the ebb & flow is just works.
This is so good not only because you can see the passion and fun behind the work but that it also isn’t something we see every day. We are so immersed in super-hero culture now that fewer and fewer genres are being utilised. So this fills a void in some of the most utterly spectacular ways.
The interiors here are phenomenal to see. The linework is strong, confident and bold and then can be soft, subtle and still strong. This kind of control over your craft and knowing that there are different techniques we can apply to bring out the best of what can be is mindbogglingly good in these pages. I would like to see backgrounds being utilised more often, setting some up with them and leaving the ones around it blank kind of spoils how the reader views things and it takes away from the ambiance as well the “background” noise that we have in our lives. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective show a gifted eye for storytelling. The colour work is amazing as well. I like how we see some different techniques here as well with the way highlighting in the skin tones creates the arm or faces shape and musculature. The various hues and tones utilised within the colours being utilised for the shading, highlighting and shadow work is extremely nice to see how they can change the mood of a page.
What a spectacular read this is. So many moving parts and so many angles to run from for Bree. Blood is thicker than water they say, in my personal experience I disagree but this is her story not mine, and she’ll do what she has to do for family. Do not sleep on this one folks you’ll be sorry you did.