AWA Upshot Comics 2020
Written by Jeff McComsey
Illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards
Lettered by John Workman
For two generations, the rural hill town of Grendel, Kentucky has honored its Faustian bargain with the monster living in its abandoned coal mine: a human sacrifice every season in return for agrarian prosperity the likes of which this rocky region had never before seen (including its greatest cash crop: the dankest weed in the land). When one town elder breaks this pact, Grendel's only hope is that its prodigal daughter will return home to face down the creature of her nightmares—and bring her all-female biker gang with her.
I love this company and what they are doing here. The level and quality of the storytelling is phenomenal and that they aren’t trying to flood us with a slew of books is so nice to see. There are a few others who do this as well, waves or phases depending on your point of view, so honestly this is what the blueprint of comics should be moving forward. Considering I am a fan of ongoing series’ that really is saying something. The fact that after one issue I can see multiple arcs happening for this shows to me just how darn good this has been done.
The way that this is being told is utterly brilliant! The story & plot development we see moving constantly forward through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is beautifully laid down. How the characters are introduced and the manner in which we meet them is set up so incredibly well that it grabs your interest and with the intrigue that creates your hooked, you are never getting off the line. This leads into the character development that we see happening here. The way the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances really do help define who these folks are. This is the moment we see them and get an initial impression so it has to be good and it’s really exceptional. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the world they live in we see just how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
With how we see the book being structured and the layers of sub-plots woven through it there is an undeniable sense of foreboding. The intrigue factor, the way we are drawn into the story and just the overall way everything is presented is amazing to see.
The interiors are stupendous. While it isn’t what I would normally want to see it does create the perfect atmosphere for the story and there is no denying that the faces and facial expressions that we see are phenomenally utilised to show even more characterisation. The linework we see and how it’s varying weights are being utilised to create the attention to detail is really rather remarkable. I love seeing what I am going to presume could be tobacco hanging in the barn and how we see the patterning in the clothing is absolutely stunning work. The way that we see backgrounds to help flesh this world out and to bring us a sense of size and scope to the story, not to mention a sense of scale and depth perception for the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong, talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is fabulous. I like how we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. There are times when what we see is so there and yet subtle at the same time and it’s gorgeous to see, like the blues in the truck.
This is an amazing read folks. It has a strong undercurrent and how it’s based upon another story that you may or may not be familiar with is really quite striking. When I get this impressed and this taken with a book, after 10 years of doing reviews, you know that it is something special.