Antarctic Press 2021
Written by C.M. Bratton & Kerry Valderrama
Illustrated by Christopher Allen
Coloured by Lee Duhig
Lettered by Doug Dlin & Christopher Allen
In a race against a brutal power they've only begun to discover, Cole and Amari must survive long enough to unravel the truth. But when Cole finally meets the killer, he discovers that his entire reality is based on a lie, and the astral plane is strong enough to destroy him. Dimensions collide terrifyingly in this epic conclusion that might leave YOU feeling you've had an OBE!
Cole has been getting really skilled in the one thing that he blames for the death of his wife. The irony of it isn’t lost on anyone including Cole but the story was designed for this to happen so it has come to pass. I think we all knew on some level there was only one way that this was going to end for Cole. I was surprised by the ending so bravo for this because I honestly hadn’t seen this coming. This kind of makes sense the more I think about it and it does end one door while opening another and to see the circumstances surrounding it makes it even more sense in some really great twisted kind of way.
I am really enjoying 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 presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter and this keeps their personalities at the forefront of the story. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the stories revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see this through to its full conclusion.
I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I love how we see these layers open up new avenues to be explored and whether these avenues are being explored now or will be later, or heck not explored at all, they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.
The interiors here are spectacularly rendered. There is this great balance between blank and filled in backgrounds and how they enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The linework is clean, crisp and strong along with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this sensational detail within the work. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works and how to maximise their effects.
This is a great series and it really stretches the boundaries of what we have come to think of in the realm of science fiction. That it doesn’t just take one single idea and push the envelope with it is fantastic because it also blends this almost noir detective aspect to the story making it a more modern throwback. Never underestimate or sleep on these stories from Antarctic Press because honestly they’ve got some good, strong and interesting stories coming from their line of books. With thirty five years of publishing experience they know what they are doing and they do it exceptionally well.