Shadow Service #1 Advance Review
Vault Comics 2020
On Sale 19/08/20
Written by Cavan Scott
Illustrated by Corin Howell
Coloured by Triona Tree Farrell
Lettered by Andworld Design
Worried your partner is cheating? Need a missing person found? Gina Meyers is the Private Investigator for you. Sure, she's a witch who worries that her powers make her more of a monster than the crooks she's trying to catch, but it's not like London's criminal underworld is literally going to hell... is it? Spy craft meets black magic in the shadowy world of MI666!
My God what a great book! We all know I am a huge fan of Vault Comics and they have their pulse on what’s hot, fresh and new that needs to be read. I am also a huge fan of Cavan’s writing and have been for a while now, his work at Titan Comics introduced me to him and I've been a follower ever since. I was also blown away by the way this issue is structured and how the story moves forward to finally revealing what the book is going to be about. The background information, the setup of who she is and what she can do and even what I would refer to as her supporting cast, all of this is so brilliantly done.
The way this is being told is bloody brilliant. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid out in a way that leaves the reader gutted and chuffed. No lie, I was riveted to the pages and could absorb what I was reading fast enough and as new scenarios and characters were introduced the momentum of the book sucks you in. The character development that we see is equally as strong. The situations and circumstances that we see Gina encounter and how she acts and reacts to them, with some bloody good narration, gives us this nice bigger picture of her base personality. The pacing is superb and as it takes through the pages revealing more and more we see how everything here works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I love seeing the versatility that Caven is showing here while still remaining true to what I have come to expect from him. By the last page I realised just what we were in for and that prospect was exciting as all get out. It simply captures the mind, imagination and engages the reader almost immediately and keeps the curiosity piqued long after its been read.
I like the interiors here, they aren’t groundbreaking or anything just some extremely solid work. I want to see more backgrounds being utilised because when we see them they really add another dimension to the story and that garage, that felt like a space that wasn’t large. Otherwise I have to say the linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights being utilised to bring out the attention to detail is handled beautifully. I wouldn’t mind seeing other techniques instead of straight up linework weight variances. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour work that we see is exquisite. I love how we see the gradation being utilised along with colour blocking and how this brings different looks to different parts. The way that the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a real mastery of colour and how it works.
Call your shop or contact your subscription service and make sure they can get a copy of this book. To me it’s like John Constantine and Punk Mambo had a baby and named her Gina, whom they left in someone else's care. There is so much wonderful material rife for the plucking and I cannot wait to see what these folks are going to be putting Gina through! Move over Bond there’s a new girl in town!
Vault Comics 2020
On Sale 19/08/20
Written by Cavan Scott
Illustrated by Corin Howell
Coloured by Triona Tree Farrell
Lettered by Andworld Design
Worried your partner is cheating? Need a missing person found? Gina Meyers is the Private Investigator for you. Sure, she's a witch who worries that her powers make her more of a monster than the crooks she's trying to catch, but it's not like London's criminal underworld is literally going to hell... is it? Spy craft meets black magic in the shadowy world of MI666!
My God what a great book! We all know I am a huge fan of Vault Comics and they have their pulse on what’s hot, fresh and new that needs to be read. I am also a huge fan of Cavan’s writing and have been for a while now, his work at Titan Comics introduced me to him and I've been a follower ever since. I was also blown away by the way this issue is structured and how the story moves forward to finally revealing what the book is going to be about. The background information, the setup of who she is and what she can do and even what I would refer to as her supporting cast, all of this is so brilliantly done.
The way this is being told is bloody brilliant. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid out in a way that leaves the reader gutted and chuffed. No lie, I was riveted to the pages and could absorb what I was reading fast enough and as new scenarios and characters were introduced the momentum of the book sucks you in. The character development that we see is equally as strong. The situations and circumstances that we see Gina encounter and how she acts and reacts to them, with some bloody good narration, gives us this nice bigger picture of her base personality. The pacing is superb and as it takes through the pages revealing more and more we see how everything here works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I love seeing the versatility that Caven is showing here while still remaining true to what I have come to expect from him. By the last page I realised just what we were in for and that prospect was exciting as all get out. It simply captures the mind, imagination and engages the reader almost immediately and keeps the curiosity piqued long after its been read.
I like the interiors here, they aren’t groundbreaking or anything just some extremely solid work. I want to see more backgrounds being utilised because when we see them they really add another dimension to the story and that garage, that felt like a space that wasn’t large. Otherwise I have to say the linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights being utilised to bring out the attention to detail is handled beautifully. I wouldn’t mind seeing other techniques instead of straight up linework weight variances. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong eye for storytelling. The colour work that we see is exquisite. I love how we see the gradation being utilised along with colour blocking and how this brings different looks to different parts. The way that the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a real mastery of colour and how it works.
Call your shop or contact your subscription service and make sure they can get a copy of this book. To me it’s like John Constantine and Punk Mambo had a baby and named her Gina, whom they left in someone else's care. There is so much wonderful material rife for the plucking and I cannot wait to see what these folks are going to be putting Gina through! Move over Bond there’s a new girl in town!
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