Into The Suck #1
Self-Published 2016
Written by Keith Thomas
Illustrated by C.B. Zane
Coloured by Oracle
Lettered by Kel Nuttall
Into the Suck is a six issue mini series about a Privateer/Bounty Hunter named Ursula who has been hired to bring in a human from the far away planet Earth. Along the way she is pursued by a mysterious adversary, her pirate father, and the entire Royal Army. The Suck refers to the trash laden area of space where the lowlifes and creeps reside. What better place to do business, if you're tough enough.
While I was at C2E2 I was at a booth saying hey to a friend of mine when at a little table there was Zane selling these. I want to thank Big Dog Ink for introducing me to him and for letting him have some space. This is what I love about the folks I am friends with in the industry are all about and the kind of camaraderie that makes to support them more than I already do. Also this is self-published through kickstarter’s and after reading this I have to wonder how on earth no one picked this up! I know now that I want the rest of the series and I hope I encourage you to do the same.
I love a good space opera story. Usually we tend to get the pirates who kind of look and act like the ones of old but this is different from that. It draws from a lot of elements and influences but nothing is “taken from” so it is a very original story and honestly I find that highly appealing. The way this is structured this is extremely well done. There is a great ebb & flow to the book and the way that Keith manages to utilise the pacing and the characterisation to keep the story & plot development constantly moving forward is a real delight.
Also speaking of the characterisation I have to say that for a first issue introduction to a series and it’s characters we get a damn good sense of who they are at least right now. There are any number of reasons why Ursula is the way she is, see her descriptions of where she gets her jobs and where she lives, and those aren’t what we need to know right now, instead I like starting this book off the way it’s done here. It is established and we’re along for the ride and we’ll learn what we need as we go.
I am super duper impressed with the work that Zane does on the interiors here. The linework is exceptionally well done and the way the varying weights are being utilised to coax out this attention to detail is beautifully done. I also really like the consistency we see in the characters, their outfits and the like. Plus the way that backgrounds are utilised is great to see as they expand the moments and bring a nice sense of size and scope to the universe. The creativity and imagination we see here is utterly fantastic as well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really good solid eye for storytelling. The colour work from Oracle here is so good! That gold tattoo on that skin is stupendous and the way that colour gradation is utilised is a dream to see. Overall the colour work is really something great and it makes moments pop or toned down and throughout it really completes the book.
This is a gem of a find. If you go to Facebook.com/intothesuck or just email [email protected] you can grab either just the first issue or all they have at this point. This is such a high quality, high level of storytelling book that it really takes me by surprise that it’s self-published. A strong concept and incredible execution are what make comics the kind we yearn to read and this is exactly why I tell you to search artist alley and find folks that aren’t on the larger radar.
Self-Published 2016
Written by Keith Thomas
Illustrated by C.B. Zane
Coloured by Oracle
Lettered by Kel Nuttall
Into the Suck is a six issue mini series about a Privateer/Bounty Hunter named Ursula who has been hired to bring in a human from the far away planet Earth. Along the way she is pursued by a mysterious adversary, her pirate father, and the entire Royal Army. The Suck refers to the trash laden area of space where the lowlifes and creeps reside. What better place to do business, if you're tough enough.
While I was at C2E2 I was at a booth saying hey to a friend of mine when at a little table there was Zane selling these. I want to thank Big Dog Ink for introducing me to him and for letting him have some space. This is what I love about the folks I am friends with in the industry are all about and the kind of camaraderie that makes to support them more than I already do. Also this is self-published through kickstarter’s and after reading this I have to wonder how on earth no one picked this up! I know now that I want the rest of the series and I hope I encourage you to do the same.
I love a good space opera story. Usually we tend to get the pirates who kind of look and act like the ones of old but this is different from that. It draws from a lot of elements and influences but nothing is “taken from” so it is a very original story and honestly I find that highly appealing. The way this is structured this is extremely well done. There is a great ebb & flow to the book and the way that Keith manages to utilise the pacing and the characterisation to keep the story & plot development constantly moving forward is a real delight.
Also speaking of the characterisation I have to say that for a first issue introduction to a series and it’s characters we get a damn good sense of who they are at least right now. There are any number of reasons why Ursula is the way she is, see her descriptions of where she gets her jobs and where she lives, and those aren’t what we need to know right now, instead I like starting this book off the way it’s done here. It is established and we’re along for the ride and we’ll learn what we need as we go.
I am super duper impressed with the work that Zane does on the interiors here. The linework is exceptionally well done and the way the varying weights are being utilised to coax out this attention to detail is beautifully done. I also really like the consistency we see in the characters, their outfits and the like. Plus the way that backgrounds are utilised is great to see as they expand the moments and bring a nice sense of size and scope to the universe. The creativity and imagination we see here is utterly fantastic as well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really good solid eye for storytelling. The colour work from Oracle here is so good! That gold tattoo on that skin is stupendous and the way that colour gradation is utilised is a dream to see. Overall the colour work is really something great and it makes moments pop or toned down and throughout it really completes the book.
This is a gem of a find. If you go to Facebook.com/intothesuck or just email [email protected] you can grab either just the first issue or all they have at this point. This is such a high quality, high level of storytelling book that it really takes me by surprise that it’s self-published. A strong concept and incredible execution are what make comics the kind we yearn to read and this is exactly why I tell you to search artist alley and find folks that aren’t on the larger radar.
RSS Feed
