Aftershock Comics 2018
Created & Written by Zack Kaplan
Illustrated by Alvaro Sarraseca
Coloured by Dee Cunniffe
Lettered by A Larger World’s Troy Peteri
When teenagers Hel and Homer Coates learn the underground world below Manhattan may hide the mythical Lost City of Atlantis, and their father may be somehow trapped there, the danger has only just begun! The two teens enlist their friends on a mission to recover the rest of their dad’s research and rescue him before his shadowy employer finishes covering up the failed expedition.
Second verse the same as the first, nope not here this issue goes into a little more than the first one and we get a better sense of what Zack is doing with this story. I like the pacing here it has a much faster feel to it as if things are literally speeding up so the kids have to make choices on the run and things are being taken out of their control. Something Hel just cannot stand from the looks of things. Which then brings us up to the characterisation here which is pretty strong stuff. Hel for example is quickly fighting her way into my dislike category with her behaviour and words and that is important to the story because intellectually we can understand it but on a personal level we loathe it. For Zack to be able to do this to her so quickly is a testament to how well he’s able to write.
Okay so this issue we meet the fifth and final member of the team Edwin. He is a computer kid and he’s one those really good and genius kind that graduates high school early and is in college so yeah he’s the final piece of the puzzle. Considering they think they company ransacked the house and stole his computer and all his work they need him to get in and regain access to that work. So we’ve got some mission impossible kind of stuff going on with teenagers and that’s cool. I like that Zack is able to get them react and say things like a normal teenager would it makes them more believable as real people.
Hel’s too strong bitchy attitude aside this issue also introduces us to the true threat to the kids. This company is full of bad people and while that alone shouldn’t be enough to worry anyone after all corporations have proven they will do a lot to keep their secrets in the real world and this on the surface seemed the same way. Now that we get to see some of the underbelly we know just how nasty and far they are willing to go to keep their secrets. Adam may be sleazy but I have a feeling that he’s a flipper and we’ll see if I am right or not soon enough I believe.
Alvaro and Dee do some of the cleanest and most impressive work on the interiors. I love the sharp and sleek use of the linework and how the city is brought looks and the just the overall mood, tone and feel that they bring to this. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off this superb eye for storytelling. The fact that backgrounds are utilised as they are expands the moments they are in and helps us see the scene better. Facial expressions and body language are used to enhance the characterisation and that is fantastic to see.
The ebb & flow of the story is really good and I love how we see things escalate. The pacing I said before is wonderful and how we see and interpret what is happening here is spot on in my opinion. Zack keeps getting stronger and stronger and I expect the rest of this series to keep improving along with him. This is fun and while you can see what’s coming in some regards be prepared to be wrong because I have a feeling that what Zack has in store is going to be amazing.