Boom! Studios 2019
Written by Kieron Gillen
Illustrated by Dan Mora
Coloured by Tamra Bonvillain
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
When a group of Nationalists use an ancient artifact to bring a villain from Arthurian myth back from the dead to gain power, ex-monster hunter Bridgette McGuire escapes her retirement home and pulls her unsuspecting grandson Duncan, a museum curator, into a world of magic and mysticism to defeat a legendary threat. Explore the mysteries of the past, the complicated truths of our history and the power of family to save the day…especially if that family has secret bunkers of ancient weapons and decades of experience hunting the greatest monsters in Britain’s history!
Well if you are curious this lives up to the hype and it justifies how many times it has sold out and how many printings there will be. So let's get started then shall we? The opening here is fantastic and if we hadn't known what the title of this was we might not have understood the significance of this find. It has all the right elements and has the right tone, mood and feel for where this story is going to take us. It grabs the readers' attention, draws them in and makes them want to see more. So it does precisely what it's supposed to do.
Our introduction to Bridgette is utterly spectacular! Personally I'd want to watch Bake Off too I mean Paul Hollywood is yummy! But its the news Bridgette wants to keep watching and I gotta say the way she says it cracked me up. Back to the news rolling up well I say a joint she says a cig but six of one, half dozen of the other ya know. Oh meeting her grandson Duncan however is the complete opposite and yet still incredibly fun. While I still wait a gay male lead I'll fantasize that Connor is available heh. A quarter of the way into the book and you aren't going anywhere, the characters are written perfectly and they leave such an impression on you that you need to see them more.
The way that this book is structured is bloody brilliant! The story & plot development and the character development are woven together and separately in ways that with the pacing continually move the story forward. So what we see is this smooth as silk ebb & flow that takes us through the book with such beautiful grace. It doesn't get much better than this people that's for darn sure.
The interiors here are quite beautifully done. The linework is sensational and how we see the varying weights utilised to bring out this phenomenal attention to detail is amazing. The composition inside the panels is perfectly done as we see backgrounds utilised beautifully and the way that depth perception is shown is incredible. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work here is stupendous as well! I mean the ginger beard that is laid down without any linework is perfect. The way that light sources are utilised to showcase shading and shadows is phenomenal. The colour blocking and use of tones and hues here is stellar stuff.
Once things get rolling the writing seems impossibly good, as the characterisation and the dialogue that we see only heightens our enjoyment of these characters. I love Bridgette, everything about her from her attitude to here unwavering devotion even at her age just makes her a star. The bumbling grandson whose naivete is as refreshing since his innocence is the polar opposite of his grandmothers and the two together oh yes indeed this is going to be so much fun indeed!