Red 5 Comics 2020
Written & Lettered by Alex De Luca
Illustrated by Glen Fernandez
In a world of clockwork and steam, cursed airship captain, Alexander Faulk, endures his centuries-long quest for an end to his torment: a Dragon! His ceaseless pursuit bears scarce reward, that is until Faulk discovers the bridge between the world of man, and the world of monsters. Her name is Rosalinda Eberhardt, and she is the Dragon Whisperer.
The world needs more books like this. This is cute, fun, tragic and an all around just entertaining book. The opening is intriguing and it makes you want to know what else is happening. It is strong and beautifully rendered which is exactly what a first page should do. So this does raise a number of questions which we also need or want to see answered and how it all factors in which is kind of exciting. So yeah the first page alone sets the stage for the type of story and adventure that we are going to find here and I adore that.
The way that this is being told is really rather well done. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfolds as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. I wasn't expecting to find how Rosalinda ends up where she does but I have to say it was far more entertaining a take on that which I have not seen before. It was not heavy handed and it was kind of accepted far more than I would have thought. The character development that we see is intriguing to me. I get why we see some motivations and how her usefulness is seen but when the Captain does his reveal that kind of stark honesty is so refreshing. I love the way we're learning about these folks. The pacing is great and while things seem to happen quite quickly it doesn't detract from getting from point A. to B.. The way that we see all of this working together to create the books overall ebb & flow which is utterly delightful.
I have said repeatedly that Red 5 is a company you should have on your radar. This is yet another example of the fact that they know what is good and what to get behind. If you have the opportunity, now that majority of us are stuck at home, I highly suggest you check this and the rest of their inventory.
The interiors here are rather lovely themselves. I really like the linework we see and how the various weights are utilised to bring out the attention to detail. For majority of the pages the attention spent on the background detail is superb! I love how it looks and how we see them within the composition of the panels to create this nice depth perception, scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. Also hella impressed with how we see just the linework in the flashback sequence because that is bloody killer! The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this utterly marvellous eye for storytelling. Then there's the colour work that we see and it's gorgeous! The softness we see in places is divine and then the myriad of hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work here is beyond what I could've hoped for.
While this may be a tale of Rosalinda coming of age in this world and learning whom she and cannot trust it is also an extremely wonderful story of just finding yourself and your purpose. The backdrop is just an added layer of awe and wonder.