IDW Publishing 2017
Written by Beau Smith & Melanie Scrofano
Illustrated by Chris Evenhuis
Coloured by Jay Fotos
Lettered by Robbie Robbins
Wynonna earp, member of the U.S. Marshal’s Black Badge Division, caught Boone Helm, the most dangerous paranormal alive... and now she’s headed right to that insidious villain’s new home—Black rock Paranormal Prison.
Here’s a great reason to love this series as a compliment to the show as well as a stand alone entity. It has those elements that are believable in comics but you don’t just don’t have the budget for in television series, I mean using Mount Rushmore as the Prison and Base for the Black Badge Division c’mon how cool is that!?! That really is something you can only pull off in books and major motion pictures with with incredibly large CGI budgets.
Well i’m totally digging this issue as we get to see a side of Wynonna that isn’t often showed and that is her compassionate side. The girl they are transporting is supposed to be extremely dangerous right but from her point of view reading this file it seems like this is a mistake. So while it goes completely in type for her to question Dolls, his tactics and motives about something or someone that she reaches out to the girl in question and tries to befriend this so-called savage instead of being that angry girl lost well it’s a wonderful change of pace.
Also I do really like the subtle humour that we get to see here, the KFC, HBC for legal reasons, and the whole mumble discussion over it was fantastic and shows personality in a nice unexpected way. Though let’s be honest who in their right mind likes Coleslaw? Val has some of the best lines in this for sure and I hope these surprises don’t ever stop coming she was on point throughout the entire issue.
There’s a fine line between keeping these stories a part of the “franchise”, meaning the go hand in hand with the television show, and letting them stand alone but so far that this is a great compliment and potentially something that could be seen as having happened or referenced in the show hasn’t been detrimental in the slightest. It’s just continued to build upon the show and examines the characters, their relationships and helps them grow in ways that are a joy to see.
Chris’s style of art has really grown on me a lot and he’s using backgrounds incredibly well here and more often which is utterly fantastic in terms of storytelling for me. His eye for using angles and perspective in the page layouts is sharp the effect is well done on the pages. The more classic cartoon style comic art gives him room to explore but still allows for some nice attention to detail at the same time.
Love how this issue ended and how it’s already shaping up for the next one. Wynonna is a control freak of sorts and when left out of the loop and unable to control people or emotions she reacts like we see here. I love it I think this is what she’s about in a nutshell and I can’t wait to see where y’all take this next!