
Boom! Studios 2020
Written by W. Maxwell Prince
Illustrated by Tyler Jenkins
Coloured by Hilary Jenkins
Lettered by Andworld Design
Now an honorary citizen of Nowhere, Denis joins one of the locals on a doomed-to-fail money-making scheme at the outskirts of town, while John Doe's mysterious killer continues to leave bodies in his wake…
Well I will say that this is one of the most bizarre stories I have read in quite some time. It has this feel akin to Alice in Wonderland on acid feel to it, which pretty much embodies that story anyway. It definitely stands out in the crowd in all the right ways to get noticed and garner the attention where people want to know what’s going on here. This is the kind of stuff we dream about and are afraid to articulate for fear of the men with white coats and I think that’s one of the aspects about this book that I am attracted to.
The way that this story is being told is incredible to bear witness to. The way we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information feels like it's divulged in a Twin Peaks manner. People talk but what they say never seems to answer any questions and you have to pay attention to what is being said because you never know if something is going to play into an encounter or situation down the road. The character development is interesting in that we learn about these folks but don’t quite understand them so it is this paradox that can be frustrating at times. On the other hand it also engages the readers’ mind in ways that must be experienced to understand. The pacing we see is utterly marvellous and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way we see how it works with everything else to create the books ebb & flow.
There are moments that hit you in different ways and while I am never sure if that’s coincidence or not, and there really are no coincidences in life, but they are rather quite remarkable. The effect that this book has on you is as unique as the town of Nowhere itself, each person has their own connection unlike anyone else’s. This is what comics should be about and to create this as flawlessly as we see it is beyond what we’ve come to expect and yet see at Boom! More often than not.
I am continually impressed and gobsmacked by the interiors from Tyler and Hilary. Right off the bat this lizard or iguana that we see is mind-blowing in it’s appearance. For the watercolour work that we see there’s a huge amount of this sensational attention to detail that we see. Somehow, some way the fact that we don’t see backgrounds as much as I would like it doesn’t matter one little bit. The composition of the pages and panels is so bloody brilliantly done that what we see is mindbogglingly good. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. Hilary’s work with colours here is astounding to see. She really does understand how colour works and how the myriad of hues and tones within any given colour should be utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. That we see colours most don’t associate being involved in it’s creation is something beautiful to see here.
As we see Denis trying to adjust to his new life and the mysterious man who pursues him we are treated to a whole new set of mythology from those that live there. Kind of like the old circus sideshow freaks finding a magical way to live outside the sphere of man. Whatever the case may be these guys have pulled me in hook, line and sinker and i cannot wait to see what is going to happen next!