Action Lab Danger Zone 2019
Written by David Pepose
Illustrated by Jorge Santiago, Jr.
Coloured by Jasen Smith
Lettered by Colin Bell
Hovering between life and death, Spencer and Locke must make the ultimate choice as they journey across a terrifying and otherworldly battlefield. Meanwhile, Roach Riley aims to paint the town red — that is, unless an unexpected hero has something to say about it!
Holy guacamole, Avocado's from Mexico, while I am never sure what to expect out of this series it sure as the all mighty Ra wasn’t this. I love this Roach Riley and how David has warped this Beetle Bailey strip into something so incredibly psychotic. David’s a pretty cool dude and if I hadn’t met him and based off his work I might think he needs to be in a psych ward which makes me like him all the more honestly. This whole freakin issue was amazing from start to finish and surprisingly my memory fails me when it comes to Dan Tiffany but by power of the greyskull we’ll need a four issue series to see some of his past adventures and how he came to wear that suit among them!
I always enjoy seeing what nearly dead men dream of as they hover in that delicate balance between life and death. Still the kind of humour that David infuses into these pages is uncanny in it’s ability to take the darkness and make it that much more bearable to tolerate. Though I may have laughed while Roach was inside that cell and once it was done he was rescued or that the Nazi Snowmen were something out of Tales from the Crypt snow-globe all of it makes it all that much more palatable.
Then there is the characterisation that we are seeing here which is utterly fabulous. Goodness gracious great balls of fire seeing and meeting officially for the first time Captain Astounding all I have to say is like father like daughter. She is this little bright spotlight of hope and determination that she sees in her father that she’s trying to emulate and ya know what I love this! For me this is a different kind of love song—What if the world was crazy and I was sane Would it be so strange I can't believe that I am alone in saying The things I'm saying I am—part of you These are—universal truths We're all—part of the light that flows through everything.
Now I am a huge fan of the interiors here. Whether what we see is like the Sunday Funnies or the normal look tone and feel it all has this truly wonderful sensibility to it that captures your imagination and creativity. I am also a fan of the way that we see the composition inside the panels including how we see the utilisation of the backgrounds. Plus I don’t know what it is or how he’s done it but Jorge has made Locke look like on hell of a hot Daddy! I believe the term is DILF nowadays lol.
The linework is gorgeous and the way the varying weights are utilised to create the attention to detail that we see is sensational. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a strong, talented eye for storytelling. The colour work here is also top notch. Again from the Sunday Funnies to the black and white to the full colour press what we see is skilled colouring from Jasen. The way we see light sources being utilised and the shading, colour gradation and blocking as a result makes me happily impressed.
David is writing a hell of a book here and this is just the beginning of his career. Again I have to stress to you all that Action Lab is home to a slew of up and coming talent and from the looks of things that talent, David, Jorge et.al. Is already here!