Shadowline/Image Comics 2019
By John Upchurch
Lucy Claire was once a celebrated hero. But through a series of sinister events, she was slandered and defamed, and her children were taken from her. But when an old danger re-emerges, Lucy will have to take on the mantle of hero once again in order to right the wrongs of her past and—above all else—find a way back to her children.
I read and I thought to myself why do men like to write about girls as if they know how to properly do that? I know it's a fantasy thing but it just makes me wonder because honestly I feel like Lucy shares more in common with men then with other women but that's just me. I am enjoying this and I think a large part of that is because of the way the story is set up. I am a little surprised to see that this town has no name and that the diner sign seems to be in Japanese, actually off the signs seem to be. Also that there are two openings back to back is something else that I feel is well done though I am sad that the hunter we see here is gone so quickly because well he was kinda cute.
The way that this is being told through the story & plot development that we see through the sequence of events unfolding and how the reader learns information is nicely done. While I do like seeing this group of folks who are out hunting as they establish this great beginning base for what we are going to see happen throughout hopefully the series. The character development is nicely done as well and I like how we are introduced to the characters and their baseline personalities. These are the baselines that will be utilised to give the characters chances to grow, change and evolve through the encounters that they all have. The pacing is good, solid and creates a nice ebb & flow to the story as high highlights the overall structure of the book.
I like the introduction of characters and how we meet them. While Lucy is definitely not one we would expect that's okay I feel she's more aligned with Upchurch's own life which all well and good, considering write what you know and how cathartic it is. I would also like to know more about this Garland and hope we'll see more of him.
The interiors here are pretty stellar stuff. I am going to go out on a limb and say this is computer generated sure but overall I really like the style of the work. Also I am very impressed with how they lycanthrope's are rendered. The linework is extremely nice to see and the way that the varying weights are utilised to bring out this kind of attention to detail is exceptional. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a very nice, strong, talented eye for storytelling. The colour work we see is exquisite and from seeing the light through the trees, the highlights and of course the way we see the hair all of this just looks amazing. This is how we you can utilise computers to create art that is nearly indistinguishable from pencil, ink and colours.
I get it, Lucy is lost, adrift and wallowing in everything that made her who she was and now she needs to find herself again, her worth and her purpose. It is an interesting development and one that I am anxious to see how it plays out. It is most definitely a unique setting to do a story like this in and I have to applaud that decision. This is off to a great start and I look forward to what's next.