Skybound/Image Comics 2017
Created & Written by Donny Cates
Created & Illustrated by Lisandro Estherren
Coloured by Dee Cunniffe
Lettered by Joe Sabino
The Bowmans are VAMPIRES who have quietly run the local barbecue joint in their small town for years, living off cow's blood. Their peaceful coexistence ends as generations of hate, fear, and bad blood bubble to the surface--making it impossible to separate man from monster!
Well Donny is a new breed of writer and if you haven’t had the pleasure to read his work yet you are in for a real treat! This here ain’t what you gonna be expecting and dag nabbit i’m already affected by what i’ve read here. I’ll have to get that out of my system as this review goes on. Suffice it to say that the premise here already has my curiosity piqued and after this wonderful introduction i’m more intrigued than ever! The writing is superb as the story structure, pacing and character introductions run smooth as silk.
I love how the book opens with an introspective from one of the characters and that it’s laced with a kind of humour that can only be applied to these folks. The young lady and the older gentleman, Perry and Bartlett, having a conversation like none other to open this up is both maddening because we want more background reference and simultaneously perfect because it opens up a world of possibilities to be explored. The characterisation is incredible and I have to admit that the innocence of youth and the we’ll say crotchety stubbornness of being older mixing the way they do sets a beautiful table.
Lisandro and Dee do some extremely nice work on the interiors here too. It’s not traditional by any stretch and yet we get all the emotion, feeling and even some very nice detail work. I think the style matches the story impeccably and captures everything we need to get extra characterisation through faces and facial expressions. The use of page layouts with their angles, perspective and utilisation of backgrounds is wonderfully done. Oh and Father Landry there’s something off about him like an old Dick Tracy villain that i’m in love with already.
So not only does Donny masterfully introduce us to this new world but provides a look at the conflict the characters face and how things moving forward are going to be. It’s gonna be the Hatfields and McCoy’s all over again only this time there’s only going to be one family that survives! I do think that every protagonist needs and antagonist and what Grandpa is all about and what JV wants for his family here may be interesting and at odds but it’s worked for a while now so what happens when the status quo gets shaken up and tossed out the window? That’s what we’re going to find out.
In a new twist on an old legend that has all the drama, originality and good ole southern boys we can handle, I can’t wait to see how this is all going to play out.