Tidalwave Productions 2019
Written by Fernando Ilor
Illustrated by Angel Luis Bernuy Amaro
Coloured by Luis Maria Dumon & Jose Manuel Amaro
A nearby island may offer Jot and Aurea's team of soldiers refuge from the rage-inducing plague ravaging Spain. Even better, a nearby facility may offer answers. Can the team navigate a world gone mad without contracting the contagion themselves? And how do the mysterious newcomers know so much about the virus?
Ya know what, I love zombie stories and it doesn't matter if it's cheesy or stupid or hella smart the genre will never go away and its popularity will wane and ebb like the tides. What I like about this one in particular is that it has all the classic elements that made Romero's franchise so successful in it's camp and seriousness. These folks on this island and how they've all come together has so far been incredibly natural and it feels right. We see secrets from characters but not the kind that give much away and it keeps us invested, engaged and entertained. There is such a good, strong balance in what we see and how we see it so it really does keep you focused on the story at hand.
I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. I like how the flow of the story and the characters enter and exit centre stage and how it keeps moving the story forward. The character development we see here is really rather quite good as well. How we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they find themselves in and if you pay attention to who's paying attention you'll learn a lot about the characters. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way as it helps create the books overall ebb & flow is amazing. The way this is structured and how it flows it really is one of the stronger books on stands and your missing out on it.
I am in a unique position as a reviewer to meet a lot of folks in the industry and form working and personal relationships with folks. It is most definitely a perk and it allows me to have access to books I might otherwise miss and this is definitely one of those instances. Tidalwave doesn't get the exposure they deserve and you will have to ask your store to order it for you but it is very well worth it.
In the beginning I thought that the interiors were more on the amateur side but they've definitely grown on me. The more exposure we have to something or someone means the more we can come to find great things about them and their work. So we might not get the best attention to detail around but the mood, atmosphere and some damn fine facial expressions help to really make things understood on “that” level. I'd like to see more backgrounds sure but I got to admit I am liking what we see and how it's in and out of focus at times pretty much like the world around them since the dead began rising. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this really good, interesting eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous and I like how we see the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. Also the techniques utilised and how we get this really amazing kind of watercolour wash it just I dunno captures the eye perfectly.
I think this story is layered beautifully and has an interesting cast of characters that not only mix well but play off each other even better. That we don't know or understand what is happening any more than the characters do makes for some incredibly great reading. This is why I keep telling you all to look beyond what you are familiar and take chances on some amazing stories from small press companies.