Humanoids 2019
Written by Devin Grayson
Illustrated by Alitha E. Martinez & Chris Eliopoulos
Coloured by Bryan Valenza
Lettered by A Larger World Studios
A young doctor suddenly and mysteriously acquires superpowers... as do several other individuals on the planet. But only her power can answer why. A gifted doctor with a vibrant, compassionate personality, Cecelia Cobbina received boundless praise from her peers and her patients. But that was before the incident in Africa. Before she was forced to leave her job at Doctors Without Borders behind... Before she gained the ability to think at superhuman speed. Overwhelmed with the power to answer every question, she must now overcome her own fears and tackle the one code she can't seem to break: the truth behind the Ignited.
This is one of my top five must read books now. The way that this is being told through the story & plot development, the release of information and how we see Cecelia's power in action is utterly sensational. Not to mention she's this amazingly strong female lead who has no true arrogance behind what she does. She is the kind of person you'd love to be around which of course is why Mae will always be by her side. The kind of loyalty she instils is superbly demonstrated throughout each issue. Then of course there is the character development and as Cecelia learns to control her powers more and more and how she interacts with others giving everyone a chance to be seen as well rounded individual is phenomenally well rendered. With the pacing of the book we see how the twists, turns and revelations come at us in some truly wonderful and unexpected ways. All this creates such a dynamic and interesting ebb & flow to the book.
I like how we see the opening here. As a handful of kids take on ICE soldiers and in some truly remarkable outside the box thinking kind of ways. What is even better is that throughout the book we see how others who are developing powers and the same style of thinking is applied, meaning the scenes are nothing like you'll expect. Also the dialogue is so bloody brilliant throughout and there is some cheekiness to what we see that just adds enjoyment to what could be an explosive situation. The writing here is so solid and so well executed that this doesn't feel written at all it feels like we are witnessing their lives unfold naturally.
The interiors here are gorgeous! I love the linework that we see it shows a sure and steady hand and the way that the varying weights are being utilised so that the attention to detail shines through is amazing. The way we see the composition inside the panels and how the backgrounds are utilised as well the foregrounds to show depth perception is extraordinary. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The backgrounds we see here are utterly delightful and they enhance the moments and bring a sense of size and scope to the book. The colour work is beautifully done as well. I like how we see the base colour and then the hues and tones within it to create shading and shadows. The purple and all it's shades utilised to showcase powers and in Cecelia's case a myriad of colours is just stupendous to see.
Of all the books in this line so far I think this one is the most intelligently written and brilliantly illustrated. I will say this with the premise here and how it is being executed and how seeing just how many new powered people there are on this world there is a definite feeling of excitement. Watching a super-powered world come to life when previously there have been none is sensational. Humanoids is making the world of super-heroes exciting again.