Cave Pictures Publishing 2019
Created & Co-Written by Rick Rekedal
Co-Written & Illustrated by Jason Brubaker
Coloured by Adrian Amarteifio
Lettered by Simon Bowland
As the search for Tripp's dad, and answers regarding the hacker and his black hole, continue, Drift fans from around the world unite to piece together the available information to solve the mystery at hand. Tripp once again enters the game, but will his hunt take him past the point of no return?
I can't tell you how many times that I love this book. Every issue that comes out is just that much better than the one before and as we see the events unfold and Tripp become more and more involved in his quest the more we become invested in it as well. With how this issue opens had that been me, oh my inner drag queen would've come out full force I can tell you that for certain. I don't get it, why it was done or why his mother doesn't know why it happened either but it's one hell of an opening that is for darn sure.
I am such a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The way the book is structured and how we see the kids go through their days has such a natural feeling to it. The fact that this started out as a duo and ends up being a trio is fantastic and the friendship building with Chazz is beautifully handled. This leads me in the character development that we see in these pages. With how these characters act, react and face the situations and circumstances that they find in their path continues to shape, mould and help them become who they are meant to be. The pacing here is fantastic and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way shows how all this works together to create the ebb & flow of the book.
For an all-ages book this is utterly spectacular and for adults it works even better. There are a number of characters with which you will find yourself able to identify with or instantly see someone you know in one. Just how gosh darn well this whole thing is thought out and thought through shows some incredibly impressive talent for storytelling in my book.
The interiors here are really cute as well. The linework has so many different influences that I see and to me they are incredibly marvellous. How the various weights in the linework are utilised to create or bring out this attention to detail that we see is pretty amazing to witness. While yes I will say I want more backgrounds, I am just not a fan of empty space in the panels it feels like it cheapens the story, the creativity and imagination that's on display kind of makes up for it. The utilisation of the page layouts ad how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a strong marvellous eye for storytelling. I really like the way we see the colour work as well. The way we see the hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely well rendered. The choices that are made and how we see them really makes a difference in how we see the interiors.
This is so much fun! While this is only issue four there are also two more in the series and while I am not sure if there is a trade in the works or not I will say that it is totally worth your time to pick up all six of them. Cave Pictures came out of nowhere and very quietly put out a nice resume of titles that really are exceptional examples of storytelling.