Scout Comics 2021
Written by Massimo Rosi
Illustrated by Alex Nieto
Lettered by Mattia Gentili
Max and his mother's journey through the nightmare of the Great Transformation continues. New York City is now doomed in this biblical apocalypse that turns people into ravenous humanoid-like locusts. A group of survivors offers asylum to Max and his mother, bringing them to safety into an old police station they have converted into a fortress. Their leader is a military veteran - and a convert to religion - named Ford. Will he be a friend or a threat?
I am immensely enjoying this series. Massimo is taking us through the apocalyptic event in a way that we’ve not seen before. Sure Max and his mum aren’t religious people but they are taken in by this group led by Ford who is turning more and more into a religious zealot who is willing to kill people in the name of his newly formed religion. Because why not? Let’s use people as sacrifices to remain clean and not be turned into these giant human eating ravenous locusts. We see groups of survivors who encounter the religious nut after a while but to start off there is new for us and I like this innovative take on the genre because it’s the least expected way to tell a story.
I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is impeccably rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter which coincidentally brings them to life clearer and clearer. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story as well as introducing us to new characters keeps us glued to the pages thanks to the revelations and plot twists.
How we see this being structured as well as how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificently done. These layers keep opening up new avenues and along with the ones we’ve already been introduced to we see so many different possible paths to take. Whether they are going to be explored or not they all add this depth, dimension and complexity to the story in such ways to leave one gobsmacked.
The interiors here are crazy. The style of the work that we see is distinct and the linework along with it’s varying weights and techniques that we see creating this crazy detail within the work we see throughout the book is stupendous. The creativity and imagination really does have this gorgonising effect on the reader because of how intense the work is. Not gonna lie though I do wish we’d see more backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments. Still we see the work within the composition of the panels being utilised to bring out the depth dimension, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is sensational. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a talented and remarkable eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilsied to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great understanding of how to use colour to its fullest.
Ford is a complete cockalorum and one of these days he’ll get his comeuppance and it’ll be well deserved. In the meantime we see one event we knew would happen sooner or later, it was bound to occur, it was simply a matter of when, and another that changes the dynamic of Max’s life moving forward. With some absolutely incredible writing and believable characterisation alongside these dynamic and frightening interiors we’re treated to a story unlike anything else you could possibly imagine reading.