IDW Publishing 2019
Written by Jonathan Maberry
Illustrated by Alex Sanchez
Coloured by Jay Fotos
Lettered by Shawn Lee
War is brewing in America. A shadow government is preparing to launch “purity bombs” for ethnic cleansing. A small group of scientists and former SpecOps shooters stand in their way. Join the resistance—save the world!
While I am still waiting for Jonathan to bring Joe Ledger and his team to life it seems that we are still getting some very interesting and different stories from both IDW and Maberry. I am loving every moment of this as well. What isn't to love about this? The first issue in a five issue arc and what we see here does what it is supposed to do it sets up the entire story. And what a story it is and the fact that it doesn't sound so far fetched considering what is happening in the United States right now. I wouldn't be surprised if a group would actually do this, try it out in a lab is one thing but to implement it is another.
The way that this is being structured is sensational. The story & plot development and the character development are spectacular as they weave around, through, come together and separate again. The pacing picks all this up and creates this wonderful ebb & flow to how we see the information given not to mention the revelations, twists and turns and there are a plenty. The characterisation here is also amazingly well done and you can get to know who these people are fairly well this early on. There are a few things in the dialogue that will reveal a lot about the characters and it is easy to see the good guys and the bad guys.
There is a moment we are introduced to De'Nessa and the conversation she's having with Moses and she's kind of scoffing at him, thinking he's a bit on the paranoid side of things. Though you aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you. I love seeing this part because there is way that this whole thing makes sense and it only works this well because of the sequence of events and I have to say it really is friggin amazing. Every single thing that I read from Maberry impresses me with the level and quality of storytelling his writing brings out.
The interiors here are utterly fabulous. The linework that we see is tight, crisp and clean showing off a strong steady hand. The way that the varying weights are utilised to create this beautiful attention to detail is perfectly suited to the story. The way that we see backgrounds utilised is perfect to enhance the moment or bring us a sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an amazingly talented eye for storytelling. I love the composition of the panels and how we see foregrounds, backgrounds and this nice depth perception not to mention scale. The colour work is really nicely done as well as we see this extremely beautiful use of shading, gradation and shadow work from the light sources.
There is nothing like an end of the world Pandemic style story and I have been wanting one of these for ages! Positively ages and now that it's here I am in full fanboy geek mode and I couldn't be any more thrilled that it's Maberry who's telling it. The man is a genius and the way he can create, tell and simply capture the readers' mind and imagination is like none other. The way we meet the characters and how we are led into the next issue is perfectly done and so there is never going to be an issue of not wanting to come back because it's Maberry and I will be back.