Blowtorch #1

​Blowtorch #1 Second Sight Publishing 2021

Freedomverse Title

Created & Plot by Alfred Paige

Plot & Written by Alex De-Gruchy

Illustrated by Montos

Lettered by Saida Temofonte

From the pages of C.H.E.S.S., Blowtorch takes a personal mission to save the woman he was once in love with - and maybe still is - from a out-of-control government experiment.

I really enjoyed this book. We get a brief glimpse into why Richard wears a full face covering and that makes me want to see it even more. One of the things about this book that I really like is that we are entering it already in progress, these characters are on a team, they’ve been established and we’re just now getting a chance to get to know them. It is a good call as this way you can always go back and do background stories at a later date or incorporate them into flashback scenes. Here’s hoping that Richard A.K.A. Blowtorch is going to be getting a long healthy run because from what I’ve seen here he deserves it. Rowan makes a nice partner for him as well and she’s a pretty interesting young lady who seems to keep him grounded. Yeah this is one is definite keeper folks, support it so we can see what’s coming next would ya?

I 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 very well. The only thing I had a hard time with was finding Rowan’s name, there should’ve been introductions when they all met up so when starting a new book make sure your audience knows who each person is. The character development is great and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter alongside the dialogue we see helps the reader get a better sense of who they are. The pacing here is great and as it takes us through these action filled pages we’re reminded that you can be an action/thriller and still have a darn good solid story to base it off of.

With how this is being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow as they lay the groundwork for what’s next we are treated to some ultra find writing. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is marvellous and it also happens to help everything continue to move forward.

I am a huge fan of the interiors here. Once upon a time I didn’t appreciate the intricacies and talent required to work in the black & white medium but now anytime I see it and see it at this level of quality I become hugely impressed. The linework is amazing, it’s clean, crisp and strong with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the softer tones all of which work together to create some magnificent attention to detail shows real talent and skill. I will pretty much always say that I want to see more backgrounds being utilised and with an underground base like this one I want to feel that closed space to near claustrophobia. Still the work and how we see it all within the composition of the panels bring us great 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 remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination on display here is stupendous. The work is flawless and with gray tones to bring out more detail this is beautifully rendered and a joy to look at.

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Second Sight is emerging onto the playing field with some top notch storytelling. This is the next wave of storytellers who are going to make a huge impact upon the industry. It is also one of those perfect examples of why I tell you repeatedly to hit up artist alley and small press area’s at conventions. This is intelligently written with interesting characters and some utterly gorgeous interiors and it’s a book you don’t want to miss out on.