Red Anvil Comics 2018
By Gary T. Becks
Lettered by Nilda Santiago Ryan
After committing suicide, Victoria Starfield is saved by her animal spirit only to be resurrected as code name Mazscara, to protect her fans and any child in Los Angeles targeted by the evil Tung. With every life she saves, she brings herself closer to her own salvation.
Okay so I like Red Anvil Comics and the fact that they think outside the box to bring us stories we aren’t going to find elsewhere. To be frank and honest at first glance I was kind of thinking what the hell is this? As I kept reading it I felt it got stronger, more interesting and the style behind the artwork became more familiar and the story was like a crescendo the just keeps building and I found myself loving this. Sometimes when you think that a book or a style of art may be for you that’s the exact moment you need to give that book a shot. Surprise yourself open yourself to something outside your norm and see what happens you may end saying yeah no or wow what have I been missing. To me this is the what have I been missing category.
There is something extremely interesting about how he book opens. I mean let’s face it when the first thing we see is a wedding in progress this is either going to be something incredibly sweet and romantic or it’s a Dynasty moment. What we got is not what I was expecting to see at all and I think there was one panel where the moment hit me and I kind of understood what the scene I was seeing was when I knew I was going to see something the likes of which I had never seen before. Also I couldn’t see the connect with that and the wedding which is exciting to me. Suddenly as a reader I had to sit up and take notice because it’s not often you can take us by surprise.
I found that the way this is structured is utterly fantastic! The flow of how we learn what’s going on and how information is revealed is nice to see. Also this is a giant sized issue and in being such the story has time to merge with the reader in a way that it’s over before you know it and with that happening in 64 issue book shows involved you get. I was both surprised and inspired by the story and how fast and easy it seemed to fly by. What Gary does with the characterisation and introduction of the characters feels fresh, interesting and fascinating.
The interiors here took a bit for me to warm up to. Yes I like that this is black and white with shades of grey and that is where it’s hard to hide mistakes. There really aren’t any mistakes though and when you see that Chinese Cheongsam style outfit with it’s subtlety and design I was blown away. The eyes took me to a Nightmare Before Christmas place and overall that felt merged with a form of Manga and it creates this fusion that feels familiar and yet not at the same time. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a strong, interesting eye for storytelling. When backgrounds are utilised it lets us feel like being a part of this story and I'd like to see more used.
That Gary also uses a very strong good versus evil take on the story was also interesting as well learning about Mazscara’s origin. While not the first time this idea has reared it’s head the fact that it feels like The Ring on steroids with a religious slant. There is something incredibly fresh about the whole look, tone and feel of this book and this is what they use Fashion Forward as a descriptive for.