Scout Comics 2018
Written by Don Handfield & Joshua Malkin
Illustrated by Leno Carvalho
Coloured by Fabricio Sampaio Guerra
Lettered by DC Hopkins
The Source is the story of Bennett Miller, a high school teacher in East St Louis who still lives with his grandmother. One day Bennett is approached after his class by a mysterious old woman, Ms. Putnam, who tells him that magic is real... and he's the one prophesied to return it to humanity. The only problem, it's been outlawed for thousands of years by the ancient Few, a powerful sect who hoard it to prolong their own lives and will stop at nothing to keep it secret.
So Don Handfield is the co-writer of The History Channel’s Knightfall and if you haven’t seen it you really need to. So that means this is filled with the kind of research where there will be names, places and organisations that are based on real history. Which is kind of exciting since I am a fan of the incorporated historical fiction genre. The issue for me was absolutely spectacular and as we go through the review hopefully I will be able to showcase why I think that.
The way this is structured is remarkable as we see from the opening through to the last page there is this ebb & flow that makes it feel like it could be made directly into a television program. The opening here gets things off to a great start as Bennett is awoken at the real witching hour, which is about 3:15am, and we get to see his bedroom. Kudos on him sleeping naked by the way too bad we didn’t see anything though. We also meet his Nana and the dialogue between them is some of the best I have ever seen.
The writing here really blew me away. The dialogue and additional characterisation that we get is so strong and makes these characters feel like living people. Only a grandmother could talk to her grandson like that and get away with it and her utter candour. Also I really like the way we see things going on visually or through casual conversation that are clues to what is going on in Bennett’s life. It is smart, intelligent writing that you have to pay attention to and even after the third reading I am still finding things that I have missed. For a comic series debut this is the kind of stuff that I have dreamt of happening.
The interiors here are stunning! The linework is so freakin amazing and how delicate he can make it so that the attention to detail in what we see is beyond any rational expectations. With the manipulation of the linework here we get to see things that stand out in ways that not only add to the characterisation of the people we meet but showcase the size and scope of the story through how backgrounds are utilised. Seriously spared no expense here people as the utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off one of the best eyes for storytelling I have been witness to.
So this is a story about Bennett, his life and his decisions not to mention his fate as part of a prophecy he knows nothing about, or does he? As two factions close in on his location, one out to save him and help him fulfil the prophecy and the other out to kill him and stop it, his life is thrown into instant chaos. The dialogue out of his mouth, what he wants to do when he sees what the other side has done, marked him as a home grown terrorist and such, makes the reader laugh because well it is funny but honestly it’s also the kind of thing you’d expect even as silly as it sounds.
With some remarkably good strong writing and interiors the likes of which you haven’t seen Scout Comics once again shows us why they are a rising force in the industry.