Aftershock Comics 2016
Created & Written by Ray Fawkes
Illustrated by Georges Duarte
Coloured by Stefani Rennee
Lettered by Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Dominique Vasko leads what may well be the greatest team of con-artists in the world. For years, they’ve been ripping off high-powered targets and getting away clean. But now they’ve attracted the attention of people playing on a whole other level—and things are getting weird...deadly weird…
I like the way this book flows. With the opening we see how one might find a mark and play him, or her, to your advantage. It’s nice because you have to remember that this team is one of con-artists and understanding how they think and work is kind of a big deal here. Also it goes directly into seeing Dominique and her situation. I love the way that Ray has done the storytelling here as we see the evolution of the story throughout the issue.
There are plenty of twists and turns throughout this issue and it’s one of the great things about it. You are never quite sure who’s playing who as things progress. Also that we are being introduced to these so-called modern day gods officially is nice to see. Though that all of them don’t share in welcoming Dominique to the fold is only natural and that she’s been setup so that she’s here without really much choice in the matter well it just has this wonderful dynamic to it.
I have to say that this whole introduction to a new world of possibilities for Dominique played out like a dream. They tried to woo her much like she would a potential mark of her own and since we’ve all heard the saying “you can’t play a player” and they’re right. These folks don’t really have a clue who Dominique is and what she’s capable of and it’s delicious to see. The sheer amount of arrogance and double play that goes on here is pretty genius on Ray’s part and it’s incredibly enjoyable to watch unfold. The amount of characterisation that is given to us here is spectacular and not just from the interaction we see but through the interaction that we don’t see as well, unless you count a note as interaction which is awfully good stuff btw.
I really like the way the page layouts are used here through the angles, perspective and use of backgrounds on both planes. There’s a real connection that you get from them--I mean both simultaneous stories-- that is surprisingly nice to see. There’s some nice attention to detail going on here and the colouring is fantastic as it represents the space that Dominique is in.
This issue takes us readers to a place that cunning and manipulative as humanly possible while still entertaining the heck out of us. The way the mind works and how angles are covered and one woman’s skills can be used and turned against those who seek to use her are outrageously demonstrated. That Ray is able to think of all this as he’s done and then implement in such a way as he has shows remarkable skill and talent. Each page and each panel continues to improve upon the story he laid down at the beginning and make this so much more than we can dreamed possible.