Ahoy Comics 2019
Written by Mark Russell
Illustrated by Richard Pace
Finisher of Solo Jesus Pages: Leonard Kirk
Colourist of Solo Jesus Pages: Andy Troy
Lettered by Rob Steen
Searching for his missing grandmother, Sunstar is forced to confront the shortcomings of his super-powers. Jesus, left on his own for the day, runs afoul of street preachers. Also: the usual assortment of AHOY prose stories and extra features.
This is so much fun to read! For starters the fact that Jesus loves bowling is one of those innocent moments that while opening the book says a lot about him. Also his bowling ball was a hell of a great choice as well. Then there's Ken and his scouring the newspaper for weird crimes or anything that can be super villain related. I love his explanation about villains and their motives and simultaneously seeing one come to life for us. The dialogue and interaction here is some mighty fine writing and characterisation.
I really am enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development and the character development have such a symbiotic relationship and really hammer home just how fundamentally different these two are. The scene with them in front of The Ransomer is a perfect example of how they see approach both situations and people. Though I do wish seeing him on the toilet had been a bit more eventful, I mean peeing himself or on Sunstar, hell even seeing his junk, would've made me double over in laughter and the setting for was so completely right.
The dialogue and characterisation between these two is incredibly well done and what Mark is capable of doing with it is extraordinary stuff. I wonder if it had been anyone other than Jesus who said these things to him would it have had the same impact on him? Probably not though his wife may be another matter. What I am kind of looking forward to is seeing how each one influences the other in their thinking and reactions. With Jesus' solo story here there's a lot of information and revelations that throw plenty of twists and turns into how this book can and will move forward. Sure Ken's own time away shows us the softer side of Sears and all but I have a feeling that it's temporary. Though one of the best moments in comics comes in seeing his grandma's old house!
I love the interiors here and I especially adore the fact that the solo's are done in completely different styles. The Jesus stuff being all dark, gritty and kind of dingy is an interesting way to go. Ken's is the regular look and feel of the book so it's tighter and with cleaner linework which while is preferred style I can't help but find myself attracted to Jesus'. There are subtle things in the book that we see which are actually hysterically funny and with the colours and lettering it just makes things pop that much more. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows such a solid eye for storytelling. The way backgrounds are utilised is sensational and expand the moments and do bring a great size and scope to the story. The colour work is solid as well and how we see moments accentuated by pops of colour is amazingly well done.
Oh when Jesus' going into that establishment because he likes the name and when we meet Satan well yeah that moment with the bartender was giving me life! I am telling you this is almost exactly what you'd expect to see with him not understanding how they took him and replaced him and made him into something that was obsolete and more about the people he never knew, trusted or liked so yeah it is so full of twists and turns that it makes for some positively incredible reading.
Regardless of how you feel initially if you aren't reading this your opinions are not valid, but you should be reading this because it's a damn good read.