Source Point Press 2019
Created & Written by Gary Reed
Illustrated by Seth Demoose
Coloured & Lettered by Sara Sowles
Teenager Amy Berg is taken from her guardian and forced by the government to attend the Centre for Intuitive Studies for her education. A rebellious outcast, she knows that life is going to get worse than she could even imagine. Amy, like the others there, seems to have special abilities and the CIS wants to train the students in order to help society. Well, that's what the brochures say...
Over the past few years I have really become a fan of the books that Source Point Press has been putting out. So when there I a new series hitting stands I have to have the chance to not only read it but review it as well. Why, well simply put because you all need to be exposed to myriad of choices out there for you to choose from. So while the premise of this one sounds somewhat familiar, yes the American Government is shady as the “F” word and takes children from around the world, who have powers and abilities that they want. They want them to train them to Make America Great Again for those who are in power not the puppets who sit in office.
I like the way that Gary structures this book. For there isn’t just one opening here instead it is a series of events that culminate in meeting Amy and learning about her and her place in the grand scheme of things. Okay so we don’t really learn the last part but then I ask if your imagination won’t take you places when reading this as well. Gary manages to grab the readers attention and pulls them so deep into the story that the reader will inevitably let their mind take them off page and infuse their own line of thinking into the story. Thus ensuring that they will indeed be back again to see if they are proven correct in their assumptions or an ass lol.
It kind of surprises me in a way that those the government has decided to "enlist" kids into their school from around the globe from the worst possible environments as well as some more innocuous but the fact that they are all “bought” off easily enough doesn’t go unnoticed. Shady, slimy men who think that they will gain power and favour by these actions are the kind I love to see taken down, shattered and broken when it’s all said and done with no future or hope of one. It is what I hope for within these pages, if we get that great if not hmm we’ll see. Awfully bold though and with other so-called world powers out there you'd think someone else would've noticed.
Seth’s work on the interiors here is interesting. He has his own unique style and part of me wonders what that is exactly while the other thinks it kind of hip yet simple. There isn’t a whole lot of variation in the use of linework it all seems have the same feel of weight to it and neither is there a whole lot of attention to detail, just enough to get the job done. Yet somehow it seems to work incredibly well for him and we still see everything we need to in order to enjoy the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a very solid eye for storytelling. We see backgrounds being utilised well to really enhance the moment of give us a size and scope of the story. (though don’t leave faces blank anywhere period) The colour work here is just as solid and nice as the linework and the overall effect is really nice.
Let’s gather a group of “talented” rebellious kids, put them together against their will and try to break them so you can use them as you will. Sounds easy enough for a group of old men with no special abilities of their own aside from ambition. Nothing bad is going to come of this right? We’ll see won’t we and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.