BOOM! Studios 2021
Written by Sarah Gailey
Illustrated by Pius Bak
Coloured by Roman Titov
Lettered by Cardinal Rae
Is Joey willing to pay with her life to uncover the gruesome secrets behind Crestfall Bluffs? Joey is beyond disturbed by what she has just witnessed and she has every right to be, but when she confides in her boyfriend Astor, his reassurance about his family's weird rituals and traditions only fuels her suspicions. Still, Joey will need proof in order to expose the truth of Crestfall Bluffs, but what she finds produces more questions and danger than answers!
I love that this book is so crazy and that these barbecues are so not what they seem to be. It is incredibly scary for someone like Joey. The way we see this being presented is exceptional to me. This is modern horror on an intellectual level that runs through a spectrum of psychological responses and it’s just such a rollercoaster ride and we’re only at issue two and with the way this ends I cannot believe what we’re going to learn next.
I am very much enjoying 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 presented exceptionally well. The character development we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in bringing their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we are drawn into Joey’s world more fully.
How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificently rendered. Joey talking to Petal and that whole conversation and what we see and learn well it is a lot to take in but dayum is it good stuff. What these layers do is open up avenues to be explored and while some will be others won’t and regardless they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is extremely well achieved.
The interiors here are great and they have this nice classic comic book style feel to them. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights being utilsied to create the detail within the work is incredibly well rendered. Backgrounds are hit or miss really and I wish we’d see more of them because when we do see them they enhance and expand the moments nicely. Still the imagery creates the mood, tone and feel nicely. How we see the composition of the panels and how they bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is well achieved. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a very talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a nice eye for how colour works.
I really am digging this book and at this point I cannot tell if Aster really knows the full extent of what’s going on or not and this is something that is bloody intriguing. I mean I wanna know but at this stage I don’t want it revealed because I want that surprising shocking moment one way or the other. I mean we know he knows things are odd within the family and he started drinking because of it but, yeah big but, does he know or repressed it? This is how engaged I am in this that I'm already coming up with theories. If you can be this engaged you know that the book is that good.
With some extremely strong writing and mysterious characterisation along with these great interiors create this psychological thriller that we’re not even sure what to really be afraid of yet.