Antarctic Press 2018
Written by Bill Williams
Illustrated by Matthew Weldon
Coloured by Tiago Barsa
Lettered by Thom Zahler
When the quiet village of Cornell is terrorized by ice giants, Jessie faces her first real super-powered villain, the evil Mister January. And for a retired 'hero' Mel sure is hiding something big.
Last issue introduced me to Punchline and I was more than pleasantly surprised by how much I loved reading it. The quality of storytelling here is phenomenal to me and the work that everyone involved does is stellar. So I was excited to know this was coming out this week and that excitement is well justified! The opening here alone demonstrates everything I am talking about. Mel is using her status to help Jessie train and what she does is pretty hardcore. I miss the days when Batman used to actually train Robin and for this is akin to those days only a little more intense.
The way that Bill structures this so gosh darn good. Mel has her mysteries and she definitely has a hard edge about her and she is trying out of both obligation and frustration to make sure Jessie is ready for the world she’s heaped on her. Also I do think there’s a little bit of using her as well but then again any relationship is complex and not always pleasant and in the beginning it is much different than it is after some length of time. That is of course if they are still talking to one another or ones not dead by then.
The characterisation is phenomenal and I love seeing how every time Jessie is starting to feel confident Mel is there to kind of check her, put her in her place, and show her how much further she can and has to go. I like the almost playful adversarial banter between them and this is a stellar opportunity to see their personalities at this stage. Bill is really impressing the heck out of me here and that I feel like they have already made me a part of their world here. The more time we see them spending time together both in and out of costume only furthers the dichotomy of what Bill wants us to see versus what they see and I am thoroughly engrossed.
Let’s talk about the art baby, let’s talk about you and me seeing this utterly amazing linework that comes from such a good hand and eye for how things need to come across. There are so many subtle things in what we see and a lot of credit should go to Tiago for that because the shading, the gradation and the overall effect of how we see costumes and clothing or the ice monsters is spectacular. Matthew does the kind of work that we could go through the entire issue without having to read it and yet we’d still completely understand what is going on. I love that fact. The way that we see the utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a magnificent eye for storytelling. Oh and the way that backgrounds are utilised makes me oh so happy as they really do expand the moments and the size and scope of the world around them.
I have said it before but I really like that this is being told at an almost midway point in what’s going on in this world. This isn’t a brand new universe that we’re all seeing heroes emerge for the first time, instead of the passing of a torch and then a mentor student bond forming. That it has that sense to it it also makes me want to know more about this world and those that inhabit it. The guys here have really created a built-in I want to know more peripherally and not just with Punchline and to be able to do that as almost a side effect of telling this story is amazing to me.
Incredibly well written with some of today’s best interior artwork Antarctic Press is still putting out some groundbreaking books.