Antarctic Press 2019
Created & Written by Malcolm Wong
Illustrated by Guillermo A. Angel
Coloured by Ruben De Vela & Michael Bartolo
Lettered by Bill Tortolini
Adaptation by Sean J. Jordan
While Bevan recovers from the Roach ambush, the Black Dog Clan enjoys a day and night in Three Palms, a small casino-city. Tommy impresses a city girl by winning a poker game but makes a powerful enemy.
I continue to be impressed with this book. There is a lot going on here and while a fair bit of it surrounds the Chief, his infidelity and new marriage and the fallout this has among his people it's Bevan who has a true shining moment. Dreams, visions or memories I love not knowing which is which when they are introduced but then the subconscious mind is not meant for mere mortals to understand it's ways. I will say this much and that is I am super intrigued to learn more because what we do see here is rather engaging. By this of course I do mean going off-script so that we imagine what we could never possibly know and that is the power of imagination triggered by marvellous writing.
The story & plot development that we see here with the way the sequence of events unfold before us as well as how the reader is given information is exceptionally well done. The character development here is super strong and recognisable. I like that we see the characters fester and have that anger building up and how the snarkily nature of man will shine through and foreshadow what may lie ahead. When I add the pacing into the mix, which by the way is pretty amazing, we see the twists and turns in the story and how they affect what we are going to see moving forward. With the way that this is structured and we see all these different events occurring, or the layering of the story, creates this ebb & flow to the book that take the reader on this journey.
I really am liking how this world is being represented here. There is this nice steampunk aspect to it with all the working vehicles we see, as fossil fuels are n o longer useful if I am not mistaken. That mixed with the American Indian feel to the characters who are wrapped up in this manga or anime style of artwork make this a fascinating book to be reading. I do like how we are able to see this story without anything being held back, whether that's the run for lives, the possible ambush by those known as Roaches, or the strife that is being within the Black Dog Clan all of it is here and on full display so yeah I am impressed.
I touched on how I feel about the interiors here and the way it feels to me. I am saying anything bad about it but it is completely unexpected. The linework is gorgeous and I love how we see the varying weights being utilised to bring out this marvellous attention to detail. Sure the outfits are outrageous and the coif's that we see are insane but that is actually half their charm. I mean everything we see in Tracey's hair alone I mean really how does she hold her head up? I am such a huge fan of how we see the composition inside the panels and how that shows depth perception and scale. The fact that backgrounds are so ubiquitous and they enhance the moments and bring a sense of size and scope to the story is tremendous to see. The colour work is resplendent! The way that we see the base colour and the hues and tones within them to create the shading and shadow work is extremely well rendered. Also the way surfaces shine as the light hits them is impressively shown as well.
There is a whole lot going on here and none of it feels like it's too much. The way the story is worked and how the layering of the issues are being told showcase some really good, solid and talented writing ability here.