Becstar #5

Becstar #5

Mad Cave Studios 2021

Written by Joe Corallo

Illustrated by Lorenzo Colangeli

Lettered by Joamette Gil

Becstar and crew's journey across the stars has led up to this moment. Becstar and Mordecai faceoff with the fate of the universe and the godlike power of the creation gauntlet at stake. Will Becstar succeed in spite of all of the setbacks or will Mordecai wield the gauntlet and become the most powerful being in the universe?

The opening is cute and shows us how Bec and Sally meet for the first time. It’s a nice moment to see in the final issue of the arc as well as how it ties into the main story is even better still. Mordecai has arrived to take what he wants and believes he’s entitled to but can Becstar thwart his plans is the real question. Well for that answer and more you’ll have to read the book because I’m not giving it away. This certainly does not go any which way that I expected it to and yet it completely and utterly makes sense as it plays out and the only regret that I have is the effect it has on one of the girls.

The way that we see this being told is well rendered. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really goes a long way in bringing us their personalities. The pacing is extremely well rendered and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we see these events take us by surprise.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen in some great ways. The avenues that the layers open up for exploration do such a nice job in bringing depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The sheer chutzpah that we see is wonderfully done and I have to admit that the surprises thrill me to no end. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well achieved.

I’m still not wholly sold with these interiors, I mean while they do a decent job it just isn’t something I care for at the end of the day. Too simple, too cute and not nearly enough detail for me but personal feelings aside they do precisely what is needed of them. They bring expression and feeling to their faces. We could use better backgrounds but regardless we get to see some nice depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great eye for how colour works. I really like the bright pops of bold colour that we see to give those moments some extra oomph.

​

Bec has been holding onto to something for far too long and whether that’s out of love, comfort or whatnot isn’t quite clear but she’s really going to need to grow up and move forward if she’s going to become a healthy individual again. It is almost sad really to lose one's friends in this manner and not know how to cope so hopefully we’ll see her come away from this a much better person. This has certainly been a delightful story and shows the power of friendship with a fair amount of fighting and action.