Image Comics 2018
Written by Joe Henderson
Illustrated by Lee Garbett
Coloured by Antonio Fabela
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Willa’s Dad claims he knows how to fix the world. Willa thinks he’s a crazy old man. The truth lies down on the Streets, where the rich live, staying as far away from the deadly sky as possible. There they use the latest technology to pretend G-day never happened. And Willa quickly discovers they aren’t friendly to outsiders….
This has a very infectious way of getting into your mind. Willa is so innocent and naive and all the things we love about a girl her age that has only seen life lived one way. Her enthusiasm for life and everything about it, wanting to travel, see new places and have new experiences is what draws too her and care about her. We connect with that a life before being jaded by the reality that people suck and life is all about love, loss and love again. Joe’s characterisation of her is stellar work and it’s really one of the myriad of reasons why this book is already on that must read fast track.
I like the way this is structured and the opening is definitely dramatic and cause for attention. It is what grabs the readers attention and makes them want to continue. That and the very way that Lee and Antonio present it. The past leads to the present as it always should and the father daughter conversation well that’s just the kicker. I like that Willa is resentful of her father and how scared he’s been since this whole thing began and he lost his wife.
For someone whose lived her whole life one way she can’t comprehend how all of this has affected him. It is a classic relationship made ever so much when the two don’t really communicate. He’s never told her what he did for a living, in the past and she’s unaware of all this and her judgement is solely based on something she’s only known. I like the dynamic it’s strong and powerful not to mention interesting. When her de-facto mother did more to raise her then her father did well there’s resentment but this is the day that will change Willa’s life and possibly how she sees her father forever.
The interiors are really well done and I have to give major credit here for just how different the streets are from the sky people. While it feels like the haves and have nots it really is just a matter of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of floating into space and most importantly fear of not being in control. We see this in their outfits and their shoes and how they come across here. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off Lee’s wonderful eye for storytelling. The utilisation of backgrounds is sublime and mainly on the streets. Faces, facial expressions and body language are brilliantly done and the attention to detail in the manipulation of the linework is fantastic.
The writing here really is impeccable and the characterisation and the story/plot development is something that should have been expected but isn’t because like Willa we haven’t seen the past except for the day of the event. This is something we’re going into just as blindly and having that opportunity to watch it all unfold without any kind of real knowledge of the characters past. I love that we are having to go blind and then either figure it out or just guess and it brings the reader into the story and has their own creativity and imagination working to try and work things out.
The way this book is being told to me is utterly brilliant!