Mad Cave Studios 2019
Written by Anthony Cleveland
Illustrated by Jef Sadzinski
Coloured by Julian Gonzalez
Lettered by Justin Birch
After the massacre outside of Ft. Worth, the freak show makes its way to the cemetery where all freaks are buried; Show's End. Upon their arrival, the group bonds over Flipsy's death and accepts Loralye into their family. Meanwhile, the sinister Captain Corley prepares to revive his old show.
If there is one downfall to doing reviews is being asked to do Advance Reviews, only because it takes so gosh darn long to get to the next issue. I say this because when a book is this good waiting on it is darn near painful. With a sigh of relief here we are and I couldn't be any happier. Now the idea of a circus and the people who live, work and run them and how that the lends them to the horror genre. American Horror Story, Rob Zombie and so many others have used the theme but other times like with Middlewest we see as a place of sanctuary. So it's nice to see this take on the genre and that it has elements we know and yet feels as original as can be is just utterly delightful.
I love the way that this story is being told. The story & plot development and the character development that we are seeing here through how we see release of information, revelations and the myriad of twists and turns from Anthony is so well done. The way they swirl around each other and work together like the knife thrower and his assistant it looks scary but it's just smooth as the polished steel. Also that this young girl is so used to being alone, locked up in a cage and just totally abused this way all her young life makes you feel for the poor dear, condition and all. We don't have to relate to her to know that we empathise and feel for her so naturally we're rooting for her and wanting her to find a place where she can be accepted.
The characterisation that we see here is beyond what I could've hoped for as well. There are some truly tear-jerker moments in this book as we learn more about the characters. On the flip side of that we also learn some horrendous information on someone else and the balance between the two is such symmetry. Not only that but the more we see these characters the more we like them and even find a couple that steal our hearts and whom we become fans of which of course means becoming more invested in the book.
The interiors here are rather delightful. The linework that we see and how it's varying weights are being utilised to bring out the attention to detail is extremely well done. I appreciate how we see the backgrounds being utilised here to not only enhance the moments but bring a size and scope to the book. Now if only we'd see them in every panel, I mean we come damn close so.... How the creativity and imagination is utilised to create these individual characters is stupendous to see and how they come alive and give us this added layer of characterisation through their faces and facial expressions is dreamy. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels not only show us a stellar eye for storytelling but also give us this great depth perception and scale. The colour work is beautifully done as well. The way that we see the colours utilised and their various hues and tones to create this shading and shadows is phenomenal.
I love how this is constantly being setup for a future confrontation. As the story moves forward and we meet Loralye and her friends as well as the Captain and his new his new shipmates things begin to take on new aspects. These aspects come with their own set of twists and turns and each new one takes us on this roller coaster of a journey that just gets more and more wild almost seemingly out of control. Which by the way is why we love this so. It's time you came under the big top trust me this may not be the greatest show on earth but it's certainly the most entertaining.