IDW Publishing/Gaumont Books 2019
Written by Ryan Ferrier
Pencilled by Vic Malhotra
Inked by Miljenko Simic
Coloured by Cris Peter
Lettered by Neil Uyetake
Mission Brief:
While Don Pablo plans his next move from his personal prison, a new criminal upstart with his eyes on controlling Colombia's drugs. El Caballero, begins to make his presence known. Meanwhile DEA Agents Pena and Murphy have been saddled with new partners, Raskow and Hiroch.
Having never seen the show on Netflix, though I may just have to now, so this is new to me and I am loving this like no ones business. Ryan has a way of writing that makes you feel like you are there, either witnessing what's happening or feeling as if you are a part of what is happening. Though I will also say that the opening here was a tad surprising and usually when we see that going on it's because of cover being too deep but this, this raises a ton of questions. Ones that the reader asks in their mind and runs the scenarios which of course means that they full engaged and invested in the story. A beautiful display of writing here and shows off his talent and ingenuity.
What I find interesting is that hen you add new characters to something that's been established you not only change the dynamic but you destroy the dynamic in this case. They say the surest way to cancel a show is to either have the get the characters get married or have a baby so the fact that we now have two very kind of polar opposite personalities and one seems to have their own agenda. This has all the gripping drama that you could hope for and then some.
The way that this is being told is sensational. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is done in such a way that you easily get sucked into what we see. Plus just the overall vibe and way this is told really engaging in ways that we normally see in story of this magnitude. The character development is bloody flawless and that's saying something. I love the way we see the characters and how they keep surprising us with their actions and decisions. The pacing is fantastic and I am enjoying how it takes through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way. All of this and how it works together creating this wondrous ebb & flow to the book which is really rather exceptional.
The interiors here are pretty great as well. The linework we see is laid down extremely well and how it's varying weights are utilised to bring out the attention to detail is marvellous. The scene where the dudes mouth is stuffed yeah that's totally a wow factor moment. The gritty feel to this really fits with the subject matter and I have to say that I think the marriage between words and visuals is perfect. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a great eye for storytelling. The colour work is interesting to see as well. I like the way that the hues and tones within colours are utilised to create shading, highlights and shadows.
While I can see the television influence on how this is written I can also see how this is a very stand alone book. With some absolutely stellar writing and some interesting plot development and characterisation with perfectly suited interior artwork make this perfect for fans of the franchise as well as anyone who enjoys some damn fine storytelling.