Image Comics 2018
Written by Robert Kirkman & Scott M. Gimple
Illustrated by Chris Burnham
Coloured by Nathan Fairbairn
Lettered by Rus Wooten
In this new offering from Robert Kirkman and company they bring us a story the centre’s around the fact that there are secret organisations that are the true power in the world. Working from the shadows and behind the scenes they can choose who lives and who dies depending on their moods, plans and how that person affects their desired outcome. It feels like a much more grown up version of Kingsman and that world of uber-spies with more license to kill than even Bond has.
If this seems like a departure from what we’ve seen in the past it is and it isn’t this has a strong interesting base and from that the branches seem to weave out with a life of their own and while it is a very over the top rendition it’s also very much these creators. Strong, interesting and full of characters who have that promise and intrigue to them that captures the mind and imagination of the reader. Sometimes when people become known for something they have a hard time being seen past that so in this instance I have to say the boys writing this are providing an exceptional platform for Chris and Nathan to play on.
I like the way that this book is structured. The opening is superb in that it makes me want to see more and since the boys bring us to the dog track you know something shady is going to happen. I also like the misdirection of what we see as well because honestly I thought the opposite of what was going to happen. So it’s nice that right away they prove that nothing can be taken at face value and that instead of trying to deduce what the heck is going on we really just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. Ya know what? I am okay with that too.
The way we are introduced to the characters this issue is extremely well done. Then the fact that we learn about the premise behind the book, the evil that men do and are capable of well it’s rather powerful stuff to learn and see. Also the manner in which a we are introduced to a few of them is on the surface kind of cliché but then thinking about it if all was right in their respective worlds then they’d be boring and we wouldn’t need to be introduced to them at all. So okay when the proverbial shit hits the fan or a nose delivered in a box it’s okay to do you and wallow in some misery. That is unless you are going to stay there which how often does that happen?
So Chris has come a long way since I first noticed his work. He has always been a very good, strong and detailed artist but there’s something about what I am seeing here seems to be a leap above what we’ve seen. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off his eye for storytelling which has always been incredibly strong. His attention to detail here is utterly phenomenal, the manipulation through varying weights behind the linework just blows me away. The way we see the backgrounds the multiple shots of the same thing showing various outcomes it all just flows in such a way that keep looking because you don’t want to miss anything or god forbid find mistakes (yes like that bar game spot the difference).
This is one of those little surprises that are well worth being surprised by. The no fanfare guess what Kirkman has a new title out surprise is how I feel reading every comic book. I don’t want to read the premise just yet, I don’t want to know too much about it before reading so everything about how Image went about this embodies what I believe in and it is an exceptionally good read.