Oni Press 2020
Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Andy MacDonald
Coloured by Nick Filardi
Lettered by Crank!
Their numbers dwindling as malevolent forces work against them, the crew of the Cortes struggle to stay alive on a lost planet. At every turn, they are beset by horrors from their own nightmares. Now, they have discovered that they are not alone on the planet, and the other inhabitants welcome them… as sacrifices.
Oh my stars and garters! I don’t care what anyone says Cullen Bunn is one of today’s hottest, most versatile and hella talented writers working today. The way this has been building up issue after issue in intensity and intrigue is such a masterpiece in action. It is very much like music in the regard that you hit a crescendo and then ease your way down the scales, think top of the rollercoaster before going down, what you fall into though is that deep resonating sound where our minds intricately lace horror with. This is so beautifully written with such amazing layers and control that it looks effortless to the non-writers among us.
The way that this is being told is phenomenal! The story & plot development that we see unfold through how the sequence of events are seen as well as how the reader learns information is flawlessly presented. We have seen the crew and it’s groups go through things separately and yet they tie in as one, of course. It is so well balanced that you hardly notice or think “what of the others?” as you go through the pages. The character development is extremely nice to see. As each new threat, circumstance and situation that they find themselves in we see them grow, evolve and emerge as the people they truly are. Some for the better, others for the worse and that’s exactly how people are. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way it is easy to see how all of this works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I am loving every single moment of this. How it is being written how the book is structured as well as the characterisation that we see. This is as complete a setting and cast of characters, including the locals and the well monsters that we see. This would be one of those mini-series events like the Martian Chronicles that would be a welcome addition to any television or Netflix channel.
Such a huge fan/lover of the interior artwork here. The linework is perfect and how we see the varying weights and techniques utilised throughout to spotlight the detail work we see is simply astonishingly good. I mean come on, the way we see the faces through the suits, the suits themselves and hell even the rocky backgrounds are just stellar. The backgrounds as they are utilised do so much more than set the mood, tone and feel for the book. They also bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and this 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 shows a masters eye for storytelling. The colour work is beyond sensational. How we see the Aurora Borealis effect, the colour in the suits and again the rocky surface just stops the eye so we can take a closer look. The myriad of hues and tones we see utilised from within the colours to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is mind blowing. With the sheer amount of creativity and imagination side by side with this level of talent and quality of work, yeah it leaves me dumbfounded.
Oni Press continues to quietly lead the way in excellence of storytelling. This is engaging, captivating, mesmerising and creepy as all get out and yet when you finally put it down all you can think of is when can i see more.