IDW Publishing 2020
Written by Chris Ryall
Illustrated by Luca & Andrea Pizzari
Coloured by Jim Boswell
Illustrated by Guy Dorian Sr. & Scott Hanna
Coloured by Ross Campbell
Lettered by Shawn Lee
1969: The first lunar mission has landed and they aren't alone. Trapped, hunted by Dire Wraiths, the astronauts find themselves wishing that help weren't over two-hundred thousand miles away. A Wraith invasion of Earth is looming and only the most isolated men in human history stand in their way. Plus! The connected ROM back-up with art by Guy Dorian Sr. and ROM legend Sal Buscema continues here!
I love this concept and how we see that executed here. The idea that Chris presented last issue and continues to explore here makes my heart go pitter patter in all the best ways. I love that the Moon Landing was and wasn't faked all because of what we see happening within these pages. There is a sheer genius at work here and I kid you not this is the stuff conspiracy theorists live for. Also this really isn't about the earthlings who are on the Moon and trying to inspire mankind to be their best, nope this is about the Wraiths. I absolutely thrilled by that as well since we have only seen them as an adversary of ROM the Spaceknight. We have seen glimpses of their cunning, planning and tenacity but this is Chris giving them a real spotlight and one that's incredible to finally see.
While yes they are technically bad guys, though if this the nature of this race then honestly they are behaving in a manner that is consistently true to themselves so bad guy would be in the eye of the beholder. I admire their sense of deviousness and willingness to achieve their goals at all costs you cannot say that about mankind for the most part the former yes but not the latter. So the fact that Chris brings us this unique look at their ideals and behaviour is fantastic!
I like the way that this is being told. How the story & plot development is seen through how the sequence of events unfolds as well as how the reader learns information is presented perfectly. I like how we see the way things go and unfold and how it all works together even in separate parts or layers and leading us to the same place is really well done. The character development is amazing to see and I really am enjoying how the situations and circumstances we see help to define these characters. The pacing is marvellous and how it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way helps to create this superb ebb & flow to the book.
I love the interiors here. The linework we see is stellar and how the varying weights are utilised to bring out this quality of attention to detail is amazing. Seeing the inside the ship and how all that linework is seen through the various techniques it really is quite breathtaking. Then the way the creativity and imagination shines is beautifully rendered. With the backgrounds being utilised as such we see this nice depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope of the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show us this really good solid eye for storytelling. The colour work we see is impressive and I do really like how we see the various hues and tones within the colours to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. There are times when the colouring is simply beautiful and there are real stand out moments throughout.
This is some extremely intelligent and engaging writing that's wrapped up in some beautiful interior artwork. We don't see such a frank and honest look at the behaviour of a species like we are here and I think this is what really makes this stand out from the crowd. Delightful storytelling all around here if you haven't seen this yet you need to get on that as soon as you can.