Berger Books/Dark Horse 2018
Written by Ann Nocenti
Illustrated, Lettered, Logo and Design by David Aja
In which a spaceman overshoots his mark, the Queen Maker arrives, the bees are fed up, someone is kidnapped, the American Dream gets feral, the alien Race is buried in the quicksand of love, and the secrets of the zone are revealed.
Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what’s going on but I am still fascinated nonetheless and I cannot turn away. This has something of a mesmerising effect upon the reader and uses their curiosity and desire to be in the know to their full advantage. I love love love the opening here because it’s just so visual and narration about it is incredibly amusing. Plus what David brings to it just sings and shows us what the narrators cannot see and it’s a feeling that will unique to each individual reading this book. That alone should be an amazing enough reason for everyone to be reading this and if it’s not well go find it and see what I am talking about.
I personally love the way that Ann has structured this story. I mean the opening really is brilliant and the pacing that we get is so sensational. The ebb & flow created here as we see Lola leave through the wall and meeting up with Race to how our intrepid reporter still tries to uncover the story of a lifetime it all just goes together. While they do and don’t meet up and the things that are seen and learned in these pages all feel like they are come across in the most natural of progressions.
` So the aliens that have arrived on Earth have come to harvest seeds. What kind of seeds well you will have to read this to see for yourself but for now it feels like we, through Lola, are taken to some mad scientists laboratory and it’s creepy as all get out which kind of goes hand in hand with these aliens in their gas masks. Of course that they’ve arrived here and have no idea what happened to our planet and what we do learn well it’s kind of that abridged version of one who really didn’t understand the full ramifications of what took place.
God I love David’s work here. There is an amazing level difference in what I saw in Hawkeye compared to this and this couldn’t be any better if he tried. Not just the attention to detail that he is bringing with his signature style but the entire mood, tone and feel of each page is so increasing impressive. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off his super strong eye for storytelling. Plus the use of greys and black that we see are magnificent and just punctuate the story in all the right ways. The way that backgrounds are utilised is such a joy to see and how they add to the mix a creepiness and expand the story in terms of moments and scope & size.
The way this unfolds is utterly amazing and I want to talk specifics but that would absolutely ruin the whole thing with spoilers. The characterisation here is marvellous and I have to say that the more we see of these characters the more they grow upon us and the more real they become. Hell even if the aliens are a metaphor than actual beings from space, which by the by I can totally see happening, and the way that the world inside the walls see the world outside the walls well that’s another thing which I'd like to see explored more.
So incredibly well written and sublimely illustrated this really does capture the mind and imagination beautifully.