Zenescope Entertainment 2019
Written by Howard Mackie
Illustrated by Babisu Kourtis
Coloured by Juan Manuel Rodriguez
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studio
Robyn sinks into the depths of a society she didn't know existed beneath the streets of New York-- a place of power, magic, and mayhem that may lead Robyn to the mystical cure she seeks to save the life one of her friend... or it may lead to her death.
I am loving this story and how the underground world of New York City which thanks to its many abandoned railway tunnels full of the disenfranchised. Only these tunnels are filled with those with powers who don’t want to be or can’t be a part of the surface world. It kind of has this more upscale feel of the Morlocks. I would love to see this world explored more, including the areas that house only regular humans. To start off this issue with a confrontation between Robyn and this group seems fitting, more so after what happened last issue.
The way that this story is being told is done extremely well. Howard knows how to structure a book so the way it flows through the pages with action, revelations and twists & turns keep readers’ on the edge of their seats waiting for something big to happen. Robyn is a hard woman to get along with on her best days, that anger management issue needs to be addressed sooner or later, so to see how this goes to start things off does a brilliant job setting the mood, tone and feel for this issue. The introduction of Gynt is something in and of itself and I look forward to see what Howard has in store with him. There is a lot more than meets the eye where he is concerned and that has an air of excitement all it’s own.
Now the fact that there is this whole now and then storytelling happening is sensational. The way it’s told shows how someone with a strong understanding of writing techniques does it masterfully. I am loving how we see the events unfold leading up to Robyn’s current predicament and that they tie intrinsically together is just that much better. When you add into the mix the characterisation we are seeing things take on a whole new aspect adding a mystery into the already layered story. This is how you keep things interesting and the reader on their toes.
The interiors here are utterly marvellous! Babisu keeps impressing me more and more with each new issue where I see his work. The linework here is gorgeous and the way the varying weights are utilised to bring us this exceptional attention to detail is beyond what I could have hoped for. While I would like to see every panel have backgrounds I understand why that isn’t so, but I can dream, so when we see them utilised here to expand the moments and bring this unique size and scope to the book it makes my heart sing with joy.
The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show us this stupendous eye for storytelling. I am a huge fan of the way we see the composition in the panels, the details large to small that actually bring more than you realise to the table. The colour work here is also amazingly well done. I like how we see light sources utilised to create the shading, shadows and even colour gradation. There are moments that you almost feel the wetness of the water and that’s impressive.
This is the Zenescope I love reading. It is smart, intelligent and exciting in ways that almost feel film ready. We see this strong story & plot development with great pacing and some stellar characterisation that continually moves forward and adds new elements we never saw coming. Throw in the quality and high level of work on the interiors and hot diggity damn people this is good stuff.