Titan Comics 2020
Written by Anne Toole
Illustrated by Ann Maulina
Coloured by Bryan Valenza
Lettered by Jim Campbell
A brand-new comic series based on the award-winning game by Guerrilla. Aloy and Talanah return in a new story set after the events of the game! Nature has reclaimed the planet. Awe-inspiring machines dominate the land, as humanity fights for survival on this new Earth.
I have to say that so far Titan Comics has not let me down when it comes to games being turned into comics. For someone like myself who doesn’t own a gaming system I feel like this is a brand new property and I can enjoy this for the story and artwork. Also I must admit that this world is incredibly intriguing to me and these mechanical beasts engage the reader in ways that should be normal and natural, after all who is making them and how are they making them? While that remains unknown, at least to me, what we end up getting is almost a Dungeons & Dragons type setting with rangers who have to understand the world, how to track their prey and so much more. So I personally find so many different ways to connect with this and I am sure each individual reader will find their own unique pathway to connect with as well.
I am 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 beautifully. I like how Talanah is rescued by someone who then becomes a travelling companion and how this just flows so naturally. The character development that we see is really rather quite good. I like how during the time they spend together with Amadis there is as much to learn about both of them on a personal level as well as through their actions in the story. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages continuing to reveal this world and its inhabitants we also see how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Titan Comics and they consistently put out some of the more all around amazing stories on stands today. The level and quality of work that we see here is phenomenal.
The interiors here are beautifully rendered. The linework is exquisite and how the varying weights are being utilised to showcase the attention to detail is stellar work. The intricacy of the work and how we see the mechanical hunters come to life with all the little parts really makes a lasting impression. I would like to see backgrounds being utilised more, when we see them in the woods that’s the kind of imagery we should see throughout. That gave me this whole eerie feeling of what was happening and that kind of feeling is something you cannot replicate with just words or characters alone on a page. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautiful. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is perfectly rendered.
This story thus far shows some great characters, character development, a solid story itself and some beautiful artwork. This makes for intriguing, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable reading and that’s what we want, something that is an escape from reality for a bit.