Scout Comics 2021
Written by Todd Cinani
Illustrated by Oleg Okunev
Lettered by Lucas Gattoni
Soldiers from Ft. Levine embark on what may well be a suicide mission to save a doctor and maybe open the road to a vaccine. Meanwhile, the crew of the Jibberish find themselves in the Atlantic Ocean, low on rations. Do they risk returning to land, infested as it is with the infected?
I am a sucker for a zombie story. I don't know what it is about them but the end of the world post apocalyptic event that turns people into flesh eating monsters has the potential to really take horror to new levels of frightening. That this one in particular manages to take the science and make it a focal point which is something that many zombie tales leave out completely. So that Todd manages to create science for dummies work in his favour so that the reader understands what the characters are discussing is phenomenal. This isn’t the only thing that is different about this story thus far and I think it is being done so smartly by combining the familiar with the unfamiliar. You need to push the boundaries to have a story such as this step away from the crowd and while it definitely has elements of Romero it also has some great originality to it as well.
Everything about the way that this is being told is sensational. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development we see is complicated and that's thanks to the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in bringing these characters to life. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, the twists & turns and so much more we are left wondering what could happen next.
I love how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. That these layers contain so much depth, dimension and complexity make for reading this that much more of a joy. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.
The interiors here are utterly spectacular. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail is absolutely stunning. The creativity and imagination combined with a knowledge of anatomy really brings certain moments to life with just the desired effect. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout to expand and enhance the moments while also working within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale as well as the overall 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 a masterful eye for storytelling. I love the pops of colour and that it feels like it’s black & white on beige paper as it really tends to give this a whole different look, tone and feel.
That there is some dark humour mixed in with the storytelling is great and trying to joke in awkward situations is very much a self-defense mechanism so seeing it here just adds another layer of reality to the story. The writing is phenomenal and the characterisation is beyond intelligently done and this level & quality to these brilliantly rendered interiors take fear and the genre to new heights.