
Cave Pictures Publishing 2019
Created & Written by Jim Krueger
Illustrated by Well-Bee
Lettered by Simon Bowland
Once the world's most famous superhero team, the Bastions have been cursed to be forgotten and are at war with each other. As one group tries to undo the curse and faces the darkness lurking inside, the other group revels in the freedom of having their action, even the illegal ones, disappear from the memory of the public almost immediately.
I am in love with this series. This is one of the best books I am or have read where the writing and the interiors are so good that you fanboy out when you see it coming out. The writing here is so solid and amazing in how we see the story & plot development and the character development evolving with each page, notice I said page not issue. One group two factions and two different points of view and even then within those groups you can the fracture in the thinking as well. This is complex and layered and brought to life with such grace, grit and aplomb that is makes shiver with delight.
Also I don't know what kind of paper this is but the cover at least feels different and it also accentuates this dark and gritty sensation and keeping it from being cliché at the same time. How does one do that? I have no idea but it's done that way here. The way the story moves through these pages is spectacular the pacing is perfect for what we see and how we see it. I love that we see new tricks of the trade shall we say that even the heroes it pertains to didn't know they could do. The development here on the fly is so strong and interesting and gives them a new dimension to who they are. I don't see it this intensely anywhere else and that's because they've been thrust into a world where they are forgotten.
Why are they forgotten because in all honesty whoever did this knows that they are so used to being in and seeking the spotlight that they've forgotten how to be heroes. Instead they have let their vices overtake them and seek to do no more than serve themselves. So what happens now is up to them and the path they follow but will it lead to redemption or damnation? After all the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I am telling you Well-Bee is a revelation in the industry with his work on the interiors here. What I see is some gorgeous linework being done with a strong and steady hand who can bring out some of the most astonishing attention to detail that is being done today. That he is colouring this as well is perfect because when we see the powers being used we see the linework and the colour work in sync to create an almost hypnotic effect. The way he composes panels so that we get a sense of depth perception through the utilisation of foreground and backgrounds is spectacular. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a stupendous eye for storytelling. Seeing the backgrounds here is marvellous and then when we see moments like the birds in the sky as we look upward to the sky yeah that's some powerful shit my friends. The colour work is darker than normal but it still manages to incorporate light sources so we see shading in various hues and tones.
One of the things about this book that I think puts it head and shoulders above the rest is that nothing here ever stops. It is constantly moving forward and even if it's in a downtime moment it's still moving forward through discussion and decision making. This is so well done that we get swept up in it like either a F4 or a Hurricane as the force of it hits you. Guess like Dorothy you don't mind one bit either. This is some of the strongest, most dynamic and powerful writing and illustrations that you'll on stands right now.