Aftershock Comics 2016
Created & Written by Frank Barbiere
Created & Illustrated by Garry Brown
Coloured by Lauren Affe
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
Alright so Martin continues to tell us the story of how all this started for him, well more like it’s time to head down memory lane and see how he got to where he is now. Thanks to Frank and Garry’s he’s got this resigned look about him that this is his life now and there’s nothing he can do about it. Something I find incredibly interesting, the fact that he never embraced this new life regardless of what was going to happen before it all began. Oh and we kind of get the gist of what he does now so yeah that's a nice clarification heh.
I have to say i’m really impressed with the collaboration that’s going on here. I like the way the let’s call it time-displacement effects are shown visually and that the Garry’s interiors are just that in sync with the words is impressive to me. Garry and Lauren do a great job throughout the book. I like the way pages and panels are used to control the flow of the story. Angles, perspective and backgrounds are utilized extremely well.
Aw well it was too much to hope for that his estranged father isn’t a well dick and finding an ally in all this right off the bat wasn’t going to be in the cards. Still Daddy Dearest has a lot of explaining to do and the fact that he thrust his son into this without any kind of proper explanations or parameter’s well that just means we get that on the fly education and storytelling that draws the reader in, captures the imagination and let’s the readers mind wander and wonder at the possibilities of what it could be. That it engages the mind so well is a huge bonus for me.
We get a meet someone named David whose own style of dress is very futuristic the era they are in, very Back to the Future and I like it. The story surrounding him and his father here is great and in all honesty it’s really where Martin gets to shine a bit as he decides what he’s going to do without being unduly influenced by what others have to say. Seriously though after dad does the neural pathway thingie i’d be inclined to disregard him just because of how that went down. Still the character development in Martin is fantastic. This was good for a few reasons, characterization aside, as it sets the tone of trust throughout the series and how Martin is going to have to behave if he wants to survive.
There’s so much happening here it’s necessary to read this through a couple times to really absorb it all. Which is fine by me I love seeing something new in each reading. This has a great premise, a promising evolving lead character and some stellar interior artwork to accompany it.
Next issue promises more answers but we’ll see what really happens as Daddy hasn’t been terribly reliable up to now and with his attitude that we’ve seen well yeah grain of salt and all that jazz. Regardless it’s fun series that’s highly intelligent and entertaining.