Punchline #12
Antarctic Press 2018
Written & Lettered by Bill Williams
Illustrated by Matthew Weldon
Coloured by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
"The Bad Shepherds"
Jessie's big day is finally here! Versema, Mel and Giuliana travel to a medieval world for Versema's big test. On that strange world, Versema must perform a heroic feat to earn the Power of Hercules. Will Mel's bloody antics doom her mission?
It didn’t take very long for this to become one of my favourite series currently being published. How the mantle has been passed and how Mel thought she was going to die and instead passed her powers to Jessie and has to find her new way in the world while mentoring Jessie has been one of the most interesting and intriguing stories that has run a full twelve issues and counting. This has been a smartly written story from the get-go and it continues to be now. I enjoy the fact that this is a superhero book that it does have its dark moments but instead it has that traditional feeling of light overcoming darkness, see hope. This is one of the best female led books on stands with its honesty in how Jessie is learning to become a heroine.
I am a fan of the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development unfold through the sequence of events and then how the reader learns information is presented continually moves us forward. There is so much about this to like and to see where her powers come from and to have her mettle tested to see if she’s worthy to continue to be a champion it feels like a culmination of events that will lead into her next chapter of life. The character development that we see is sensational! How we see the dialogue as well as how the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really continue to keep them growing and evolving as people. The pacing is superb as it takes us through the pages revealing the events to come.
I am enjoying the way that this is structured and how the layers within the story continue to carry forth while new avenues emerge creating a great complex dynamic that the two women share. Mel loves being a super powered person and it’s easy for her to slip into that role even when it’s Jessie’s turn to showcase what she has. The way that everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is rather quite stupendous.
The interiors here never disappoint. The linework we see is fantastic and how its varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out this level and quality of detail work is astounding. I will say that while I do want backgrounds behind the fighting what we do see is fabulous and how it provides some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is solid stuff. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is absolutely divine! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is exceptional. How colour is utilised to shape and contour the body or the trees or anything really shows this great understanding of what colour is truly capable of.
The Mel and Jessie pretty much being polar opposites of each other the dichotomy isn’t lost on the reader. I think it’s a smart play as well as one is just starting out and the other has become much too jaded and somehow the two can work side by side and teach each other, or remind one another, of what’s really important. This really is an engaging, entertaining and all around extremely well put together book.
Antarctic Press 2018
Written & Lettered by Bill Williams
Illustrated by Matthew Weldon
Coloured by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
"The Bad Shepherds"
Jessie's big day is finally here! Versema, Mel and Giuliana travel to a medieval world for Versema's big test. On that strange world, Versema must perform a heroic feat to earn the Power of Hercules. Will Mel's bloody antics doom her mission?
It didn’t take very long for this to become one of my favourite series currently being published. How the mantle has been passed and how Mel thought she was going to die and instead passed her powers to Jessie and has to find her new way in the world while mentoring Jessie has been one of the most interesting and intriguing stories that has run a full twelve issues and counting. This has been a smartly written story from the get-go and it continues to be now. I enjoy the fact that this is a superhero book that it does have its dark moments but instead it has that traditional feeling of light overcoming darkness, see hope. This is one of the best female led books on stands with its honesty in how Jessie is learning to become a heroine.
I am a fan of the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development unfold through the sequence of events and then how the reader learns information is presented continually moves us forward. There is so much about this to like and to see where her powers come from and to have her mettle tested to see if she’s worthy to continue to be a champion it feels like a culmination of events that will lead into her next chapter of life. The character development that we see is sensational! How we see the dialogue as well as how the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really continue to keep them growing and evolving as people. The pacing is superb as it takes us through the pages revealing the events to come.
I am enjoying the way that this is structured and how the layers within the story continue to carry forth while new avenues emerge creating a great complex dynamic that the two women share. Mel loves being a super powered person and it’s easy for her to slip into that role even when it’s Jessie’s turn to showcase what she has. The way that everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is rather quite stupendous.
The interiors here never disappoint. The linework we see is fantastic and how its varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out this level and quality of detail work is astounding. I will say that while I do want backgrounds behind the fighting what we do see is fabulous and how it provides some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is solid stuff. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is absolutely divine! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is exceptional. How colour is utilised to shape and contour the body or the trees or anything really shows this great understanding of what colour is truly capable of.
The Mel and Jessie pretty much being polar opposites of each other the dichotomy isn’t lost on the reader. I think it’s a smart play as well as one is just starting out and the other has become much too jaded and somehow the two can work side by side and teach each other, or remind one another, of what’s really important. This really is an engaging, entertaining and all around extremely well put together book.
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