Zenescope Entertainment 2019
Written by Ben Meares
Illustrated by Babisu Kourtis
Coloured by Juan Manuel Rodriguez
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studio
PART 1 OF 6: KEEP RUNNING
After recent events Robyn has found herself on the other side of the law. Hunted and unwelcome both on the streets of the city she calls home and by the family of outlaws she made in the Underground, Robyn is dealing with her new status quo the only way she knows how, with a fistful of questions and bow full of arrows. Aimed at getting revenge on those who have turned her life upside down, she must seek out the answers to return things to the way they were, or the closest thing to it, by any means necessary.
My first instinct when I saw the first page is that this was a DC title. I almost did a double take as the quality of the artwork from Babisu and Juan Manuel took by complete surprise. After that it was time to dig and enjoy what was happening. Ben has mastered Robyn in my humble opinion, he has being feisty, stubborn or pig headed (same diff right) and the kind of woman who would hammer the circle peg into the square hole all of this is conveyed beautifully on the pages. I am excited because while this isn't an ongoing monthly the arcs do follow one another and yes it has that Launch on the cover and the issue can be a starting point as well making this serve multiple functions.
I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development with how the sequence of events unfold and the way that information is being revealed is fantastic. The character development really astonishingly good and I mentioned it earlier but we also see Gingrich and a few others all of whom get fleshed out nicely here. Yes there is room for growth that's a given but it's nice to understand the characters we meet. With the pacing what we see is how the twists & turns come at us and a rather great cliffhanger ending. All this combines to create a strong ebb & flow to the story that just engages the reader perfectly while also showing how strong the book is structured.
I love the interiors here! Babisu's work is equal to or better than you'll see anywhere else. His linework is amazingly strong, clean, crisp and through the varying weights we see him bring out this sensation attention to detail. His characters are spectacular, expressive and the facial expressions and body language further the characterisation in ways that words alone cannot do. That we see backgrounds utilised as prolifically as we do enhances the moments and brings a sense of size and scope to the story beautifully. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stupendous eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as impressive and to see how the hues and tones within a colour are utilised to create shading and shadows is superb. Also that glow in Robyn's eye stands out and that the consistency of the colour from panel to panel on the mundane stuff doesn't go unnoticed and it's incredibly well done.
...And I say Hell Yeah and Yeehaw...and I do here because this is part mystery, part detective story and all around vigilante justice done the right way. After all these two women were in used and set-up so there is a lot of things happening and no one left to trust but each other. Once Gingrich is back at her old position things will change again but in the meantime this is how they are going to work. That Robyn's life always seems to be in constant upheaval is half the fun of this franchise I mean if things were stable I would begin to worry. But worry not since this creative team is putting a book that stacks up better than Green Arrow or Hawkeye.