Shadowline/Anomaly/Image Comics 2019
Written by David Hine & Brian Haberlin
Illustrated by Brian Haberlin
Coloured by Geirrod Van Dyke
Lettered by Francis Takenaga
Banished from the Marked, Liza is recruited by the government's occult research department, Shadowgate, where she is encouraged to take her magic to the limits and beyond. The Marked must find her before she succeeds in creating an unstoppable army of super-soldiers.
To be honest I wasn't sure what to be expecting out of this book but it certainly wasn't this and I love that! So far Anomaly Productions keeps having their hands in some of the most interesting and best books I have read. The opening here is a perfect example of why I say this because we meet the General, thanks to Kook, who I somehow get the impression is someone who'll no longer be around, as he puts Liza through some paces. Now this is one of those instances where we meet someone and you know everything you need to instantly and know that nothing, absolutely nothing is going to change about him. That is the General, and no not the automotive insurance character.
The story & plot development here as seen through the unfolding of the sequence of events and how information is released to the reader is extremely well done. The character development is interesting to me as yes we see Liza and how her opinion keeps changing her mood the more time she spends with General Burman, who henceforth will be referred to as Burman. The pacing here is utterly marvellous so with the twists and turns we see and how they affect the ebb & flow of the book. Everything we see here highlights how the books structured and how effectively we see the characters transforming through their experiences. The boys do such an incredible job with this story and taking it places that seem bizarre as hell and yet in the long run make perfect sense.
I don't know what is going on lately with all of these government agencies appearing in so many titles across the industry. Maybe it has something to do with the state of the world today I don't know but it seems to be one of those going around like when vampires are in or zombies that kind of thing. I know it goes out of fashion to fall back upon but this feels different. Regardless I am anxious to see how this is going to play out and how are this is going to be taken.
I am such a fan of Brian's interior artwork here. How he and Geirrod work together to create the look of the magic we see is stellar stuff. While seeing the magic come from Liza isn't really new it's still nicely done but honestly it is about Robo-King and how that was brought to life that blew me the ff away. The linework is gorgeous and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the attention to detail is stunning. Also the backgrounds we see really are sensational and I would almost venture they are computer generated but they are so damn good I wish they were in every panel. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show really strong eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous! I love how we see the hues and tones within any given colour bing utilised to create the shading and shadow work here. It is so noticeable in how we see the clothes and hair and even in defining facial structure.
I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to move forward. Between the whole idea of Liza on the one hand and then the Marked on the other so will we see the latter next issue as they notice that one of their own is missing or will Liza be successful in her endeavours for Burman? So many different things happening so many different avenues to travel. The layering of the book and how it all will come together eventually has me incredibly excited. This is how you engage your readers' and make them want to see so much more through the strength of the story and interior artwork.