Image Comics 2019
Written by Scott Snyder & Charles Soule
Illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Daniele Orlandini
Coloured by Matt Wilson
Lettered by Crank!
The expedition undertakes a desperate attempt to rescue a member of the team from the Destiny Man's strange caravan city. Success or certain doom hinges on Americana expert Ace Kenyatta, PhD—what he knows about the new lands…and what he doesn’t.
There is something about this that still has me on the fence about it and I cannot quite put my finger on what that is. Part of me feels like this is still too haphazard in the storytelling and the flow feels off. This issue we are starting to see more of the characters backgrounds and why they've been chosen for this mission. Ace is an interesting fellow and I have to say the opening here with a look at him is more than a welcome change of pace. Warren's invasion of his privacy and experiment really does a number on Ace and there is definitely bad blood between them and I kind of want to see more of that.
The character development that we see is pretty strong. I mean we see the dialogue and actions in play as Warren takes Ace and does what he does which of course makes it incredibly easy to extremely dislike Warren as a man, person and character. Actually every single character we see is fleshed out extremely well and regardless if it's through the dialogue, banter or how they act and react to the situations and circumstances the find themselves in. I think that these characters and how we see them is the most impressive part of this book so far.
I am completely lost within the story & plot development here. Sure how we see the sequence of events unfold is orchestrated extremely well. How the reader learns information is a tad lacking however. We have see things happen that have not been explained and things among this group are being taken at face value which doesn't feel right to me. Maybe it's a case of long term versus short term I don't know and I could be thinking too small. Although I will give credit where it's due in the fact that it has the reader completely engaged in the story. The readers' minds look for the discrepancies and then try to find a way to have all make sense in the minds so yeah we want to know and need to know and keep coming back to find out.
I will say this the interiors here are phenomenal to look at. The linework we see is beautifully laid down and how the varying weights are utilised to bring us the attention to detail is marvellous. The utilisation of backgrounds here and how the work with the composition within the panels bring is us depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope is well thought out and rendered. I am also majorly impressed with the way we see the colour work in many parts of this. The white and sand camouflage and even some blues in some species have the benefit of not having the linework but the colour alone defining them. It's a beautiful marriage here and I cannot stress who impressive it is to look at. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stupendous eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination on display of phenomenal. The way that we see various hues and ones within the colours creating the shading, highlights and shadow work is mindbogglingly good.
So I am not 100% sold on the hype that came before this is working the books benefit. There is something here that's for sure and what that I am not entirely sure of yet. The concept and what we learn here is extremely interesting if proven to be true but I feel like getting to a point where things feel more natural instead of forced would make me like this book a lot more.