Battlecats Vol.3 #2

Battlecats Vol.3 #2

Mad Cave Studios 2021

Written by Mark London

Illustrated by Michael Camelo

Coloured by Tekino

Colour Assists by Ricardo Castillo

Lettered by Miguel Zapata

The truth about Myrthalen and her motivations are finally revealed. Kelthan witnesses the atrocities taking place as he continues his journey across Valderia to reach the White Marsh Islands. Meanwhile, Natharien and Artain venture to the Gardens of Solitude hoping to receive answers that may provide insight on the next heir to the throne.

The more we see of this the more intriguing it becomes. Whenever a king or queen passes away there is always a period of turmoil and when it is an assassination it’s even more violent transitory situation. Add into the mix Myrthalen and her beliefs into this and there’s no telling of the kind of havoc that will be unleashed. Seeing the things that happen within this issue brings me the kind of excitement that I hadn’t thought I would experience and that alone excites me even further. Part of me thinks that the Battlecats have an even more daunting task ahead of them in finding the new heir to Valderia and restoring peace to a fractured land.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continue to flesh these characters out so they are portrayed as people we are familiar with. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story it pulls us deeper and deeper into what they are all experiencing.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. The layers contain the characterisation and the plot twists not to mention revelations and more and whether they work with the main arc or simply swirl around it they all add great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

I like the interiors here. Though I would really like to see backgrounds utilised more, there are a lot of blank spaces that could be filled in to give us greater context of where they are and if it’s wide open or in an enclosed space. When we do see them they enhance and expand the moments beautifully. How we see the composition within the panels bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is accomplished exceptionally well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is phenomenally rendered. The creativity and imagination that we see is utterly delightful.

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I think that the fact of how we see the toll all of this has taken on the characters has been some of the more powerful storytelling that we’ve seen out of this series to date. It isn’t just our heroes either as our villains get their fair share of superb characterisation as well. It is all over a well rounded book that brings a fuller experience instead of a decidedly one sided affair. There is such superb writing and amazing characterisation wrapped up in these solid interiors that leaves you wanting more.