Mad Cave Studios
Written by Anthony Cleveland
Illustrated by Jef Sadzinski
Coloured by Julian Gonzalez
Lettered by Justin Birch
After the devastating death of Flipsy and her subsequent burial at Show's End, Daxton Rickles' World Famous Circus of Oddities and Curiosities hits the road, and with the show running out of money, everything depends on Loralye and her "sharp" performance!
First of all let me give a huge round of applause for the creation and execution of Corely. That man creeps the hell out of me and while he almost bought Loralye from her father it wasn't until this issue that his true and everlasting evil came into full fruition. It really couldn't have happened under any better circumstances either because this was extremely well done. This my friends and frenemies alike is a great example of what can happen when a company does a talent search.
I love the way that this is being told, the writing is super strong and well executed here and there isn't a moment we do not understand what is going on. The story & plot development here is utterly marvellous to see as the sequence of events unfold for us as well as how the reader learns information. Super important as well that these things flow like they do. The character development is beyond my expectations. The way we see how they act and react to the situations that arise keeps their personalities growing and evolving in some terribly human ways. With the pacing here we see the twists and turns that take the story to places you would have never assumed it would go. All of this together really create a splendid ebb & flow to the book that just leaves you chuffed.
There are so many different ways you can do a circus story, more so with the old school travelling shows. So the way this one is progressing is uniquely done and I have to say that I am more than impressed with the loyalty being shown. I also like that the crew is on the up and up and they aren't in the business of murder or deception so this angle isn't one we are used to seeing and applaud the direct that Anthony decided to take this one. If you all want to be thoroughly impressed you really need to be reading this and the other titles that Mad Cave have out.
The interiors here are very interestingly rendered. I mean like the style that was chosen because it exaggerates their body proportions and brings out the circus freak angle to each individual person. It also helps make Corely as damn creepy as he needs to be and that's all really attributed to the linework and the attention to detail that Jef brings out. His eye for storytelling is phenomenal as we see the composition inside the panels as they show depth perception, scale, size and scope to the story as well as just an overall sense of the story itself. The backgrounds we see enhance the moments perfectly and contribute a lot more than just bringing that dimension to the story but to really bring out the creepy factor or every day life. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels are extremely nice to see. The colour work is so gorgeous. How we see the chose base colour and then the various hues and tones within it to create the shading, highlights and shadows is exceptionally well done. It really gives everything we see that extra punch.
I hope that my reviews introduce you to books that you wouldn't normally know or think about and that you check these books out. This one is perfect for fans of AHS, it's great for those who want to experience something totally outside the box in it's thinking and execution. Mad Cave is a small but mighty publisher who really cares about the books they put out and it shows in the end product. You need to want to be a part of this troupe and once you start reading it you'll understand why.