Cave Pictures Publishing 2019
Written by Jim Krueger
Illustrated by Well-Bee
Lettered by Simon Bowland
A team of superheroes, blinded by their fame and self-promotion, are forced to reckon with their destructive choices when a twist of fate erases them from both past history and present memory.
There hasn't been a book that I have read from Cave Pictures that I haven’t enjoyed and this one continues that trend. I love Jim’s work so I knew right away that I wanted to read this and this is my introduction to Well-Bee, who I cannot find a lot of info on and from what I see he (assumed) is from Norway and his work is pretty exceptional. Plus the concept for this series is one I haven’t seen done like this before and I have a feeling this is going to be the kind of story we’ll look back upon and wonder damn how haven’t we seen this before.
So when I started reading the opening here I was intrigued by what we were seeing. I found myself shaking my head as this dude was talking about the action figures he was selling and describing for us as while I am not a toy collector per se but I understand the why people are but this level of hawking I find disturbing. The next few pages really kind of show and define the world these heroes live in. To me Jim captures this “modern” world perfectly and his vision shines through and it makes me wonder. I do like that he manages so quickly to get my mind working from the page to my thoughts so that I am engaged and seeing what isn’t there. I love when a writer can do this and to do it so quickly is one of the reasons I really like his work.
The way the book is structured is sensational and the essential character is not who you would expect but then again it never is. How we learn information and see the twist and turns that will complicate matters as a the story moves forward make this as much a set-up, see prelude, as it is an introduction or just full one incredible issue. This makes me feel like we are welcomed into a new world that’s already in motion and we get a broad look with enough to pique the curiosity and not too much more.
I am totally enamoured with the interior artwork here. There is this unique blend of fine attention to detail with this kind of heavier handed work and full of stylised moments to make this as unique and appealing as the moniker he goes by. The way that we see the composition inside the panels with the angles and perspective not to mention how backgrounds are utilised really do wonders in how we experience this story visually. How we see the action and the way that drama and feelings that come with the characters shine through beautifully. The utilisation of the page layouts combined with everything else we see show a magnificent eye for storytelling. The colour is amazing as well and it really highlights the mood, tone and feel of the story. How light sources are utilised to create shading, shadows and even some colour gradation are extremely nice to see.
The story & plot development here is steadfast and with this level of pacing it’s just a joy to see. Add in the characterisation and character development and everything takes on a new perspective. There are so many interesting little twists and turns to the story that make the characters real and range in likeability. The way this issue ends with one heck of a cliffhanger style makes the entire set-up one that really excites me for what’s to come. With unlimited potential and some incredibly talented creators this is going to make waves for just how damn good it is.