Advent Comics 2020
Written by Tony Kittrell
Illustrated by Greg LaRocque
Coloured by Rachel LaChance
Lettered by Chris LeBlanc
Following events that transpired in PANDEMONIUM: EVIL INCARNATE and CHAMPIONS OF HOPE, dark magical forces led by the evil sorcerer Merlynn and the powerful Cauldron have broken through the shattered dimensional barriers and have come to the Advent Universe! With taking over this dimension in mind, Merlynn launches a plot to capture Mystic the Mighty Mage. But Mystic launches a plan to bring together Earth's greatest protectors to stop them...if they can come together without killing each other first!
Well here we are with another book from Advent Comics. I like this little publishing house and that Greg LaRocque is doing the interiors makes this even more fabulous! In the opening paragraph we see that this spins out of an event, so if you missed that fear not because while it is referenced there is enough here to make this new reader friendly. This is a very small press publishing house but I have to say that this is where you are going to find some of today’s newest and freshest storytelling. It is also why I urge you all to find these companies at cons and in Previews to find something new that you haven’t read but find interesting from either the title or description.
I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. How the story moves forward and the glimpses of insight into the characters who will be involved has both interest and intrigue factors to them. The character development is interesting as these are established characters and we are getting to see them after they’ve gone through after their most horrific event to date. So we them at a crossroads and it will be interesting to watch them grow and heal as they move forward. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the rather large cast of characters that will be involved alongside a few surprises. How the book is structured and how we see subplots emerging as well has how everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is really nice to see.
The interiors here are gorgeous. For some unknown reason I didn’t realise that Greg LaRocque was the artist here. I love his work, always have, and that this large of a cast isn’t anything new for him, Legion of Super-Heroes run, combined with his naturally talented eye for storytelling make the interiors really shine. I love how we see the linework and it’s varying weights being utilised to show the attention to detail. Backgrounds are utilised very well here and they really do expand the moments as well as provide depth perception a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book. Greg’s ability to utilise the page layouts and the angles and perspective within the panels is remarkably good. The colour work here is also a joy to see. There is some nice use of colours and the hues and tones within them to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. By the way that last page reveal of Ava yeah that’s as sweet as they come.
Advent Comics has some incredibly solid titles on stands and that we can see the love, care and fun they have putting them out is infectious to the reader. Right now small publishing houses such as these folks right here are putting out the kind of quality superhero stories that you want to read, that I hear folks say they miss. So why haven’t you gravitated over here? There’s a whole universe here waiting to be explored by you and it’s high time you came over to give it a go.