Catalyst Comics Studio 2019
Written by Aaron Dowen
Illustrated by Joe Desantos
Coloured by Ramon Amancio
Tilt is the fourth wall breaking, gritty, and self-aware superhero story that follows Patrick Eitilt; a homeless superhero in Boston. It chronicles the story of his past, and what pushed him into becoming the hero that he is today. His story is tied directly into the Catalyst Comics Universe, and will explore the agents of the Council of Elders; a secret organization bent on exploiting, controlling, or eliminating, hyper-evo’s. Patrick became the subject of countless experiments, each grooming him to be one of the most powerful agents of the Council. Now escaped, Patrick is dedicated to keeping his city safe, while tracking down those that manipulated him.
I really enjoyed this and it isn’t like anything I have read before which is not only a bonus but impressive considering how many superhero style books are out there. This one came to me in an email, now I have no idea how I was chosen or if they perused the website but doesn’t really matter now because here we are. The opening grabs your attention and you have to wonder who is this dude, I mean he kind of looks like a version of Jesus or a younger Gandalf. Either way he comes across as the GILF and that’s impressive. His narration or talking to the reader is a great way to start it showcases Aaron’s ability to write dialogue and structure a story.
Speaking of structure, what we see here is really nice. This whole issue is an origin issue and while that’s the case it’s also a life story from the day his power manifested to the present day. I like how we see this and the then and now storytelling is impressively well done. It isn’t always easy to pull that off but Aaron shows he can do this extremely well. The story & plot development we’re seeing that directly influences the character development is harsh, interesting and sad. I say sad but you’ll have to actually read this issue to understand why I say that but to me it’s really apropos. It is very effective and powerful storytelling of his life and where he’s at now makes a lot more sense after seeing this.
The interiors here are strong and very good. I like the linework and how it’s utilised through its varying weights in order to bring out the attention to detail that we see. Also I find interesting and intriguing that we see the backgrounds done in colours that have muted tones and hues. While they are effectively expanding the moments and bringing a nice sense of size and scope to the book they also let the focus be the focus and it’s not quite out of focus and I like that. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a very confident eye for storytelling. I am also going to say this, the faces and facial expressions are marvellous and the emotions and feelings that come from them are so easily read and felt by the reader.
I don’t think I have ever seen a first issue go into this kind of intense origin story. I mean we are just getting the highlights and that leaves gaps and areas that can be revisited, fleshed out and gives Aaron and us that opportunity to show different avenues of his life. Also by the way nice homage moment in this as well, that’s what I call respect. I am curious about a few things that I see within these pages and that curiosity is what will draw me to keep coming back to this book. There are answers I’d like to have, and while it’s obvious he’s suffering from PTSD but I am more surprised with everything he’s been through that he’s acting so emotionally instead of methodically.
Here’s the website https://catalystcomicsstudio.com/ you can order through them for both digital or physical copies. I say check em out at the very least. This really a very polished and well done book that can stand with anything on the market. Twists and turns galore with a great cliffhanger ending, yeah this is cool.