IDW Publishing 2020
Based Upon the Novel by Stephen King & Owen King
Adapted by Rio Youers
Illustrated by Alison Sampson
Coloured by Triona Tree Farrell
Lettered & Designed by Christa Miesner
A strange sleeping sickness, known as Aurora, has fallen over the world, and strangest of all, it only affects women. In the small town of Dooling, a mysterious woman has walked out of the woods; she calls herself Eve and leaves a trail of carnage behind her. More mysterious: she’s the only woman not falling asleep.
I am loving this so far! There is something so utterly and completely beautifully bizarre about this that it hypnotises and mesmerises the reader. This of course means not only can’t we look away but we have the seed of desire planted within us to want to know and see more. It is an amazing adaptation so far and it only seems to be getting that much better with each page. Also there is an extremely symbiotic relationship between all of the creators here in how they work together so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts holds true and is seen here as a brilliant example.
The way that this is being told is completely sensational. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is immaculately rendered. I am in such admiration of the news on the telly and the narration that provides while we see what is being said simultaneously in play. It is just brilliantly done and I cannot stress that enough. The character development that we see here is amazing. The characters we are introduced to and those that we’ve already seen and how they face the situations and circumstances is extremely telling. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and how it weaves through information and application is exceptional. How we see this book being structured and how everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow shows some nice talent.
It is never easy to do an adaptation, usually we get inspired by so that the writer has more leeway but here it says adapted by which for me is more impressive. How and what we need to see and what can be kind skipped or skimmed over somehow without ruining the bigger story is not easy to do. Rio demonstrates such knowledge, talent and skill here and it’s exciting to see and think of what else he’s capable of creating.
The interiors here are seriously mindbogglingly good. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and various techniques being utilised to show the attention to detail is extraordinary. From plants, trees and all greenery to the patterns in the clothing or the lines in the faces, what we see is a modern day masterpiece. The utilisation of the backgrounds and how they not only enhance the moments but how they work to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is brilliantly rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. Now the linework here would be nothing without how the colour work is laid down. The hues and tones within the colours and how they are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is stunning to me. There is an opulence of colour throughout and we see someone who understands how to utilise them to create a lasting impression.
Folks I may get a tad wordy or flowery sometimes but this is one of those books where I don’t think any reviewer can do it justice with sheer words. The writing, layering and characterisation alongside these interiors make for what I would think of as an award winning book and one of the absolute best new books of the year.