AWA Upshot Studios 2020
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.
Coloured by Lee Loughridge
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
J. Michael Straczynski teams up with Mike Deodato Jr. and together they plant the flag for a new universe of heroes and villains for the 21st Century. As governments around the world put pressure on newly-super powered individuals, a few of the so-called "reborns" band together to demonstrate they won't take oppression lying down. Welcome to the Resistance. Hope you survive the experience.
I love and I hate this book in equal measure over the fact that Governments around the world would behave in the manner we see here. In our real world we see day in and day out how the men & women in power have been tainted by that power and act in such a way that makes me want to put a bullet in each of their foreheads lol. For one moment around that table when he wants to manipulate the already established, well yeah that cemented it for me. Still that I have such an impassioned response to the story already is a testament to just how damn good a writer that Straczynski is. Also we are collectively seeing just how easy it is to create a supers universe which works in so many numerous ways instead of what we’ve seen being done elsewhere.
I love the way that this is being told. Right from those first few panels on the opening page my mind was snatched into this scientific mode that made me thrilled to see this happening here. Straczynski knows his audience and knows what he can do and how far he can take it and that is why he’s so beloved. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. We are meeting folks fast and furious here and instead of this feeling crammed together or overcrowded if you will it all has this great feel to how it’s told. The character development is interesting, again from the kid and his doctor to Feyodor, who sigh is as dreamy as dreamy gets in comics, and so many more are flash fleshed out and it is done in a way that I’ve never seen and never expected to see done so incredibly well. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing twists & turns, revelations and more we see how everything needs to work together to create the books ebb & flow.
I have been a huge fan of Mike’s work as an artist for many years. So if you haven’t noticed it yet when creators work on a project they really like, are invested in (yes it’s true too) or just attached to something that makes them happy we see an uptick in their work. I mean dayum I think this might be some of his best work I have ever seen. The linework here is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques involved in bringing out the attention to detail is simply mindbogglingly good. The utilisation of the page layouts are brilliant and stunning to behold, the way backgrounds are incorporated within the panels bringing us depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope of the book is stupendous. How we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masters eye for storytelling. Lee’s colours on top of the linework is simply divine. The man is incredibly talented when it comes to colour and his knowledge of hues and tones within them makes him a master at his craft as well.
This has the potential to be one of the most amazing series around. Sure this is a limited run but we’re already seeing a spin-off story and the world that’s being created here is one that surely cannot and will not be contained. When creators are told to let their creative juices run free, unfettered, this the result, mind blowing storytelling.