Vault Comics 2017
Written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
Illustrated by Nathan Gooden
Coloured by Vittorio Astone
Lettered by Deron Bennett
Grieving mother Shannon Kind awakens on a primordial world, mysteriously wielding the power to shape its destiny. Will she be this world's savior - or its destroyer?
Guys do me one favour will ya, no more coloured boxes with coloured fancy script writing, while it may look cool my poor eyes had a hard time reading it.
One of the first things you have to do with this one is take in Nathan and Vittorio’s work on the interiors. Because while the words are essential to understanding Shannon the interior artwork is essential to understanding this world. The use of page layouts is extraordinary to see through their angles, perspective and utilisation of backgrounds. The alien landscapes are so utterly foreign and beautiful. Seeing Shannon in the midst of all this that’s so different it’s hard to put into words how stunning it is. The creativity and imagination that we’re seeing here is staggering and stunning in it’s scope.
The story itself is both maddeningly and beautiful. We get that Shannon had a traumatic event or series of events that have happened to her and it shapes how we see her. While at times it does feel like we’re in the middle of some kind of acid trip of psychedelic trip through the looking glass, mm mushrooms, and that can be frustrating it never deters you from soldiering on to find out exactly what’s going on.
We don’t see how or why Shannon leaves the comforts of Earth and her home to end up here and i’m more than okay with that. Leave it be mysterious and unexplained, ala the Twilight Zone, it’s more ambiguously interesting that way. I like that human nature battles how she feels and while she claims she’s ready to give up and yet her actions speak so much differently. It’s kind of like never knowing how strong you are or what you are capable of until you’re in a situation where it’s proven.
The characterisation here is superbly done. I like getting to know the contradiction that is Shannon. She’s strong willed and extremely independent and yet can’t seem to get over her losses. The pacing of this issue is interesting as we see her go through phases in the planet's timeline so that each stop or experience is helping to shape her. It’s like experiencing something you’ve never seen before and yet can still identify with somehow.
There’s something I take away from this that i’m curious to see if others do as well. I mean there are no guarantees in life and nothing is ever going to go like you want it to no matter how hard you try. So it’s learning to make the best of what you’ve got and been dealt, overcome the little things and learn, grow and evolve into the best version of you. That is what I see Shannon having to do and i’m interested in seeing her take that journey. It just so happens she gets to do it in this gorgeously foreign landscape.