Top Cow/Image Comics 2016
Written by Matt Hawkins & Bryan Hill
Illustrated by Atilio Rojo
Coloured by K. Michael Russell
Lettered by Troy Peteri
Top Cow combines three of its most provocative titles (THINK TANK, THE TITHE, POSTAL) in an unflinching fable of revenge and consequence. FBI Agent James Miller (THE TITHE) follows a sociopath into the off-the-grid town of Eden, Wyoming on a personal mission of vengeance. The price of this vigilante justice will be paid in blood, and both Eden and James Miller will never be the same.
So the latest trend seems to be combining books into a cohesive world and I’m super okay with that. On their own each of these titles is an amazing read, seriously if you haven’t been reading them you should be and i’ll wager the trades are at your local library if you want to check em out, so naturally if done right combining them into one epic story should be well epic. With creator Matt on board here we already see how this is going to work and i’m really excited.
This is an introduction issue so don’t worry if you aren’t familiar with the characters or their individual series. There’s a what you need to know section to get you up to date on each one so it’s completely new reader friendly. The writing and characterisation we get here is brilliant and you really get to know and understand motivations of characters already. Now when you combine this many series with this many characters you aren’t going to be able to showcase all of them at once it’s going to be a process and thankfully these gentlemen know how to start us off.
By giving us a solid reason for what’s happening and how the three series converge as well as introducing us, yes even peripherally, to all the players it’s easy to see this as a brand new series. In that I mean it’s never been seen before (no previous exposure) That’s great and it really goes above and beyond so that new readers will feel right at home here. The premise is solid and the pacing of the story is remarkable. The way you get that feel of each character's motivation and the way the dialogue is used convey a lot of information and characterisation.
Atilio Rojo is Top Cow’s newest artist and what an assignment to get! I’m not familiar with his work so this a new experience for me, and I love those (discovering new talent). I have to say i’m extremely impressed with his attention to detail in the characters, faces, body proportions and all the clarity that brings. His use of backgrounds is phenomenal and for me it really does go a long way in getting the mood, tone and feel across of what’s happening here and the bigger picture. His eye for storytelling using page layouts and how the story flows is strong and has me excited for what’s to come.
So I recommend this highly it’s a smart, intelligent and new reader friendly that has some stellar interiors to go along with the story. High quality storytelling that takes three separate series and makes one new exciting thriller.