Mad Cave Studios 2020
Written by Jarred Luján
Illustrated by Orlando Caicedo
Coloured by Warnia Sahadewa
Lettered by Justin Birch
Set in Miami during its most dangerous and decadent decade, the 1980s, this coming-of-age tale follows four teens desperate to escape the drugs and violence of the city. Together, they plot a heist to steal large sums of cash from the most dangerous gang on Calle Ocho, Los Marielitos. Dry Foot is a fearless story infused with hispanic culture that deals with friendship, family, and sacrifice.
I love this! This is set in a time when I would have been about their age and the world was a much different place than it is today. On a superficial level this makes it easy to relate to, then once we get to know the kids we find more reasons for this to resonate with the reader. Also I adore that we are seeing more books centred in the 80’s and in such a variety of settings it may not be a John Hughes film but I’ll be damned if on the surface that’s what it reminds me of. So if you want something fresh, new and different from anything out there than you really need to make sure you get a copy.
I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being told. The way that we see the story & plot development constantly moving forward thanks to how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is laid down extremely well. How the book is structured here allows for the way we see the story unfold and while it feels like your average teenage adventures it’s anything but and a case can be made for them being a product of the society they live in. You will have to decide that for yourself but rest assured your mind will be engaged in this story from the get go and you’ll have a hell of a time trying to put yourself in their shoes. Do the ends justify the means? Who knows but we’ll have fun finding out. The character development is phenomenal and though it’s the first issue the groundwork has been laid and it’ll be interesting to see how the kids grow. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and the world around the kids it’s easy to see how everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I like the interiors here. There are times when you could completely understand what the story is from the visuals alone and it’s this kind of talent that we see within these pages that makes even more powerful than it already is. The linework is fabulous and how we see the varying weights and even some various techniques utilised to bring out the attention to detail that we see is stellar work. I mean thank you for a hairy chested man and the expressions on peoples faces. I would like to see more backgrounds as we hardly get any and when we do they are great at fleshing out the moments. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour is nice to see as well and how we see the hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is nicely done. It is also nice to see how the colour is applied in different ways.
With an incredibly strong, interesting and intelligent writing that has layers and a depth I wasn’t expecting. This is going to blow your mind with how each of these kids are with each other and their lives at home. By the end of the issue it’s easy to see how they found one another and why this whole story is taking place. Trust me Mad Cave Studios is one of the stronger publishing houses right now and you need to be reading this. It’s well past time to enter the Cave if you dare.