Antarctic Press 2018
Written by Donavan Weldon
Illustrated by Matthew Weldon
Ghost Writer and Lettered by Bill Williams
Coloured by Rodrigo Aviles
Lettered by Thom Zahler
When Versema chases a bunch of tomb raiders to a sunken city, she is confronted by a dimension-hopping woman with murder on her mind. Meet Rosevera. She wants Versema dead. The question is, why?
I am super thrilled that I was able to find this book. When I saw it, it looked interesting to me and the interiors were great. I had limited experience with Antarctic Press before this and now now I am one of the biggest fans of them. This series has been a true gem since issue one and it keeps getting better and better with each issue to hit stands. That Versema is still apprenticing as it were is great and that she has not graduated to working on her own well it makes sense to me. That this isn't rushed or jumped to a point where it shouldn't be and that it has a very natural, see realistic, way about it is something that I really like.
I am enjoying the way that this is structured a lot. There is a great ebb & flow to the story through the way that we see the pacing of story & plot development as well as the character development. That no one seems to stay stagnant or stuck in a pattern is refreshing to me and that we always seem to be moving forward through each and every encounter is fantastic. Versema is still relying on her Mel and her expertise after passing her powers to her and for now that's okay but she knows her mentor isn't all there at the moment. Mel has plans of her own and now that she's a fraction of the person she used to be it feels as if she'll do anything she can to get powers once again.
Meanwhile I love the opening here it really does strike a chord. Also the references to Ariel and Mera were a thing of joy, it's nice to know that even in this world movies and the like about superheroes still get made and seen by the masses. These pop culture references keep the series grounded in a world we can relate to and any opportunity for that is once we should be happy to see. Also that we feel as if we dan relate to Versema and Mel make them more accessible.
The interiors here really are gorgeous to behold. From the underwater city to the rooftops of Seaholm what we see is so well done. The strength of the linework and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create this amazing attention to detail makes a statement. From the arch of a brow or how we see the folds and design in a dress there is nothing that isn't coming across crystal clear. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. How we see backgrounds being utilised here to enhance the moment and bring a nice sense of size and scope to the book. The colour work too is really well executed. I love seeing the various colours in clothing and such thanks to the light sources being utilised.
What I see within these pages is a classic superhero story only it can have it's fair share of angst moments but overall it's full of light, hope and positivity. Which makes this a much better than what I am seeing out of the supposed big two these days. The only difference is people read them because that's all they know and they need to break that cycle and start reading books like this that show the world that these kinds of superhero titles still exist. These guys are creating one of the best ongoing superhero books on stands right now and you need to notice that!