Scout Comics 2018
Created & Written by JC Lacek
Illustrated by Vasco Duarte
Coloured by Patrick Gama
Inks & Lettering by Cristian Docolomansky
Local jazz legend, Martin Comity, has seen better days. After experimenting with a new street drug, his already debaucherous lifestyle descends into paranoia as he suspects the drug's visions to be real. To learn the truth, Martin recruits Benjamin Way, a peculiar novelist with experience in matters of "altered states", to try the mysterious drug for himself. Ben's jovial reluctance turns to earth-shattering revelation as the drug reveals a surreal world no amount of experience could have ever prepared him for.
I very much am enjoying the opening sequence here. The narration and how it appears in the boxes in the type font is nicely done and has a very good impact. I think seeing the imagery of this opening with the animals in action, the kind you only find in a big city, which leads into the next part is extremely well done. I like seeing the city and it’s inhabitants as things around them are changing in such a rapid and dark way.
Are some folks sensitive to things like what’s happening, oh yeah they may not know why but they do and we see that here and I gotta tell ya it’s nicely put on paper. I like how all this plays out before we even get to Martin and how it sets up what the reader is supposed to be feeling and I have rarely seen this happen so exquisitely happening here. Before we even get to the story I am already feeling dread and sense of unease and it is all because of what is happening peripherally. I am so utterly, sincerely and profoundly impressed with this book and how well it’s done.
I really like the way that the book is structured and how we follow a raven through the story until it’s no longer necessary. How that comes to be is something I'm not entirely sure of unless it is inadvertently real or just something mystical in nature. While it does kind of give us a moment of comic relief it’s in a very dark way and with my dry, dark humour I appreciated it greatly. Still how all this weaves into Martin and Ben having a conversation is beautifully orchestrated and that kind of flow is exceptional.
The guys do a nice job collectively on the interiors is very nice to see. I like the way they can match the tone and feel of what the writing using their talents. The linework is really nice to see and there are subtle moments and bold ones where the varying weights are used well. The colouring or shading that we see where the highlights are used to create facial structure is nice and interesting to see. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a good, solid eye for storytelling. I like when backgrounds are utilised and wish they’d be used more often as it fleshes out the story more. When they are induced the creativity and imagination we see is stunningly well represented.
Scout has been very successful in finding some extremely good up and coming talent and this series is proof positive of that. Seeing the way that the story unwinds before us and how we see what Martin and Ben go through on their little trips leaves us with more questions than answers and it’s a driving force behind wanting to see what is going to happen next. This story is exceptionally well written and wonderfully illustrated and it’s meant to be read in daylight hours lest you find yourself having nightmares.