AWA Upshot 2020
Written by Benjamin Percy
Illustrated by Ramon Rosanas
Coloured by Lee Loughridge
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a Midwestern American survivalist – five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.
I don’t know whether this being the first new comic I have read or not but I was super excited to see this and even more thrilled to read it! I love these folks and this is a company that is quickly rising into one of the must have publishers in my humble opinion. I wasn’t sure what to expect here and while it is a zombie apocalypse story I wondered how they were going to be able to separate this from the crowded field. I shouldn’t have worried though because knowing Axel I should’ve known it wouldn’t be out if it weren’t. Still that hadn’t prepared me for this first issue and how well it is crafted, structured, told you name it and it’s pretty gosh darn impressive.
I am a huge fan of the way that this story is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is laid out spectacularly well. There is a lot of ground to cover and what Benjamin does as he not only introduces us to the cast but how they are and fit into the story blew me away. The character development that we see is really just the opening snapshot of these folks. It establishes who they are but leaves plenty of room for them to change and evolve as the story moves forward as well as kind of showcase what their base skills are. It is extremely interesting to see this done this way and it creates that interest in the reader to see where the story will take them. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing secrets along with the twists and turns is superbly crafted. The way all of this works together to create the ebb & flow of the book as well as highlights it’s structure shows how talented Benjamin is.
The interior artwork here is nice to see. While it feels like it is inherently comic book style in nature there are some very unique moments throughout the book that make it Ramon’s own. I am a huge fan of how we see the placement and utilisation of the panels and how we see backgrounds being utilised to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is magnificent! The attention to detail that we see and the angle and perspective provided all show this masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work we see here is phenomenal! How we see the hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is beautifully rendered. The choices made for different folks and how we see those in the gradation and colour blocking is extremely nice to see.
This is mindbogglingly magnificent first issue. It grabs the readers’ attention and makes them want to see more, to know more and know what’s happening. It is akin to that sensation where you feel the need for something so strongly and you hadn’t expected to feel that way. Sensational writing with how the book is structured and how through each encounter we see them all having a similar experience simultaneously. So completely and utterly impressed.