Black's Myth #1

Black’s Myth #1

Ahoy Comics 2021

Written by Eric Palicki

Illustrated by Wendell Cavalcanti

Lettered by Rob Steen

Meet Janie "Strummer" Jones, just an ordinary werewolf PI, trying to make it on the mean streets of LA. When the case of a lifetime falls into her lap, it's up to her and her charming djinn assistant Ben Si'lat to figure out just how many silver bullets have been used, and just where do silver bullets come from anyway?

One of the things I do is I avoid reading about a book before it comes out so that when I do read it I’m surprise and thrilled by its premise and execution. It is also why I try to avoid talking about events that occur in the books I review and what you to be excited about picking something up based on the talent and execution of it. So I had no idea what this was about before reading it, heck I didn’t even know this was a black & white book which is something i’ve come to appreciate more and more over time. The opening page is a splash page and I think we just don’t see enough of those in comics anymore when once upon a time they seemed to the staple when you opened up an issue. It grabs the readers attention and makes you want to see more.

I really like 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 we se through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstance that they encounter is presented impeccably well. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, introducing the characters and this world they inhabit we’re drawn deeper and deeper into the proceedings.

I appreciate how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and start to grow. The layers are where we see the characterisation, the plot twists and other bits of sundry parts taking place. Whether these work with the main arc or simply swirl around it they add this great depth and complexity to the story giving it more gravitas. 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 am very much enjoying the interiors here. The linework is strong, clean and crisp and how the varying eights and techniques that we see being utilised to create the detail work is exceptional work. We see a fair bit of backgrounds being utilised here, though there could always be more, and how they enhance the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is really nice to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling.

This is a very interesting first issue and as we learn about the main characters and the mystery surrounding the events of this issue it’s fairly easy to see why she’s being targeted. She is definitely not one to be trifled with however, neither is he for that matter, and she’s a lot tougher and meaner than we initially suspect. A supernatural P.I. who has an equally supernaturally based partner, his preference in the other kind partner is up in the air right now, working out of L.A. seems like a match made in heaven right? Well it’s still much too early tell but if this issue is any indication it definitely has its moments.

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With smart, witty writing and great characterisation alongside some strong and dynamic interiors Ahoy Comics has yet another hit on their hands.