Black Mask Studios 2021
Written by Matteo Pizzolo
Illustrated by Anna Muckcracker
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Halfpipe and Soledad gaze into The Abyss. Things get intense. Don't say we didn't warn you.
What an amazingly interesting issue this is. I’m pretty darn impressed with how much dialogue and how much we get to know these two women even further. Now I can’t run the interior pages with this review because neither woman wears a top the entire time so this is a mature readers’ title. Though it does make me wonder if women do just hang out regularly without tops on, I mean they are just breasts and Soledad did just sew up Halfpipe and cleaned herself off so why put something on? Alright so with that side note finished onward to the issue at hand. I really am impressed that there is so much conversation happening here and we learn so much about what Halfpipe went through with what happened to Dr. Mulciber and Soledad’s personality shines through brightly. It also gives us a clue as to what we might expect to see out of this arc which can coincidentally may go one of two ways or Matteo can find a way to tie the two together. Either way it’s going to be a heck of a ride so you better strap in kiddies because things might get a bit rough and bumpy.
I’m 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 that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really does a magnificent job in fleshing out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing the story and the characters we’re captivated by what we see.
I’m pretty darn impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. These layers open up new avenues to be explored and add so much 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 are impeccably handled.
The interiors here are something unique alright. The linework is sensational and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail within the work that we see is exceptionally well rendered. I do wish we would see backgrounds being utilised throughout to really enhance and expand the moments. As it stands the composition within the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story rather well. Even without the backgrounds these two ladies manage to hold your attention throughout the book and yes this is partly because of them being topless and the nonsexual way that it’s just beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours show a strong eye for how colour works.
If you haven’t been reading this series I highly recommend that you start and this would actually be a great issue to start with. It doesn’t require you to read anything before it, though you’ll want to after reading it, and what makes it so new reader friendly is that if you need to know something the girls cover it in their conversation. This is intelligently written with some extraordinary characterisation and stunning interior artwork which makes this the darn great read that it is.