AWA Upshot Studios 2020
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.
Coloured by Frank Martin
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
A global disaster leaves hundreds of millions dead in its wake. Shortly after, a few thousand suddenly manifest superhuman powers. Are they harbingers of more perils to come...or Earth's last hope?
I was looking forward to this though I have to admit that I was completely wrong about what was going to take place. This was absolutely amazing and I have to say that for a new company putting out four issues in one week, which is incredibly risky, they have announced their arrival in a way makes as grand an entrance as you could possibly get. Hell it is even better than the first appearance of the Alien in Alien! The creators that Axel has contacted and how they are being allowed to cut loose and in this case start a shared super-hero universe. Good grief Charlie Brown I am so overwhelmed by the sheer level of quality that has hit the stands this week.
When I started to read this I wondered if Straczynski knew what was coming heh. I mean this is kind of real world right now stuff and irony isn't lost on me. Still I think even unintentionally this makes the story that much more powerful and gripping to read. The way that this story is being told really is mindbogglingly bloody brilliant! From the start to the the big announcement to the discovery of those who came out changed leave a profound effect upon the reader. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development is a little different than we're expecting to see. Why because it's basically a narrative so there isn't any one single person to concentrate upon. Now we do get a glimpse of some who will play larger roles, assumedly, and that's enough to start their intrigue factors. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it helps to create the books overall ebb & flow.
I knew I was going to like this but I had no idea just how much so. The writing, narrative, that we see with this worldwide pandemic and then the resulting aftermath has so much about it that's unexplained and intriguing. This really is beyond brilliantly done and I am obsessed with it already and it's been some time since a single debut issue has made me feel this way.
Good Golly Miss Molly the interiors here have my knickers in a twist. Mike has pulled out everything he knows how to do and put on these pages. The linework shows this exquisite recherché as it brings this to life. Not only do we the strength of the work in the people's faces and facial expressions but I'll be damned but the cities, the landmarks they are so bloody mindbogglingly brilliant in their depiction you'd almost think they superimposed upon the pages. The way that we see backgrounds being utilised and how they work within the composition of the panels to create this depth perception, sense of scale and of course the overall sense of size and scope for the book is completely enthralling and dynamic. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this masters eye for storytelling. The accolades continue because the colour is extraordinary! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is gorgeous. For me this demonstrates someone who understands colour, how it works, how it blends and changes as well as the different colours that normally aren't understand by non-artists.
You want this book, no actually you NEED this book in your life. This will blow you away by the level of work within it's pages. Strong, powerful and full of modern what ifs surrounded by these extraordinary interiors make this one of the strongest debuts I have had the pleasure to read.