Vault Comics 2020
Written by Justin Richards
Illustrated by Val Halverson
Coloured by Rebecca Nalty
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Two troubled teenagers discover they can manipulate emotions by firing Finger Guns. There will be laughs. There will be tears. There will be uncomfortable teen feelings and angst. Oh yeah... and chaos. So much chaos.
I wasn't all to sure what this was going to be like but it's Vault and I yet to be disappointed by anything I have read from them. So far that stands. Though this the first all-ages I have seen from them which surprised me a little bit. The opening where we meet Wes is really well done and it does allow us to get to know him and understand a little about his life. This way what we see so quickly has that impact on how the reader is going to feel about him which is a bonding experience. This gets us invested quickly and there are few things more important in storytelling then being able to have your audience bond with your character so quickly.
I like the way that this is being told is really well done. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented in a great way. That what we see is what we see and as of now there doesn't seem to be any type of explanation forthcoming I find that I actually prefer things this way. The character development we see is rather nicely done. The way that it's done feels almost as if we are seeing everything around him is showing us who Wes and I have never seen it done quite like this before and I don't we will again. The pacing that we see is superb and as it takes through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create the books ebb & flow. There is some amazing and unique utilisation in storytelling happening here and I have to say I really think that this feels a lot more innovate than I would have thought.
The interiors here really have that all-ages appeal to it and they characters look like they belong in their age brackets which I really appreciate. The linework that we see is strong and laid down extremely well and I am thoroughly enjoying how we see the attention to detail as well how backgrounds are utilised. The way all of this works together and creates the depth perception, scale and brings this overall sense of size and scope to the book is remarkably well done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a great eye for storytelling. I am enjoying the colour we are seeing as there some nice utilisation of both solid colour alongside seeing the colour blocking for shading and highlights so it really does make for some really interesting visuals.
This wasn't anything like I was expecting it to be and I really really like that. The way we see this progress through the pages reveals such a delightful story. This will surprise and entertain you in ways you don't expect making this a dynamic new addition to Vault's line-up.