Scout Comics 2020
Created & Written by Scott Lobdell & Blake Northcott
Illustrated by John Upchurch
Lettered by Digital Vanguard, Inc.
A wrong turn down a dead end road. A car that won't start. An unspeakable evil emerges from the darkness. No phones. No weapons. No escape. Think you've seen this all before? Think again. When a girls softball team takes a shortcut through the Florida Everglades, they veer off the path towards a night they'll never forget - drinking, dancing - one last hurrah before college starts and they go their separate ways. When they stumble into a trap set by a murderous cult, the stage is set for a night of blood-soaked carnage, but the cult has never dealt with victims who are ready to fight back.
I have no idea what is going on over at Scout Comics this year but by golly you all need to sit up and take notice. With a slew of new offerings it would seem that they are making a huge bid to become one of today’s best publishing houses. No small feat either but then again Scout and Aftershock have some very similar DNA involved. Everything I have seen lately just blows me away and with the regular offerings still in place this is going to be the year of Scout Comics should this continue.
I am sucker for how this is being told. The opening is amazing and it provides us with one of those cinematic moments that we know all too well if you enjoy the darker, macabre genre of film. However, what really sets this apart is the narration that goes along with it. Everything you need to know about this is told in the opening then the fun really begins. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development we see is phenomenal and as we get to see and know a few of the girls here we see a bit of how and why things are going to go a certain way. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we see how well the book is structured as well as how all of this works together to create the books ebb & flow.
The interiors here are fantastic. John’s got a real way with how he does art for the interiors and this shows us why. He is such a master at digital artwork and his knack for being able to cinematically arrange the layouts and how we see the perspective in the panels show us this absolutely amazing eye for storytelling. The creativity that we see all around here is amazing and to see the girls being girls and some exaggerated body type of a grown woman is truly something special. Then there’s the colour work and how we see the different hues and tones within it being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is gorgeous work. There is variety in the techniques we see being utilised as well and I have to say that everything really shines here.
The story is sensational, the layering that we see through the characters and their personalities is phenomenal stuff. This group of girls who have played in their final softball game together are a nice variety of kids about to encounter something extraordinary and how they act and react will be something special to watch unfold. Folks get ready for some thrills and chills that will get your adrenaline pumping as Scout paves the way into their own future!