Broken Souls Ballad #3

Broken Souls Ballad #3

Black Caravan/Scout Comics 2021

Written by Massimo Rosi

Illustrated by Ludovica Ceregatti

BLACK CARAVAN IMPRINT:

The Hunt Has Begun! At St. Abigail's, The "Brothers And Sisters" Have Managed To Gather All The Pieces Of The Puzzle And The Awakening Of The "Special" Children Has Attracted The Attention Of Their Most Monstrous Servants. Will They Be Able To Summon The Necessary Strength And Courage To Find Each Other And Escape From This Common And Dangerous Enemy Or Will They Become Weapons In The Hands Of Evil Men?

I like the way we seem to be focusing on Tom here. For whatever reason he seems to have the most stable life of the kids that were hooded and adopted and that have powers or a curse. I’m not sure if that really means anything but it is what I see so something about that has to be somewhat important to the story as it moves forward. Also let’s talk about the horror aspect of this series shall we? I dunno what is going on with these kids but there is some absolutely horrific and creepy shit happening with them and it messes with them, and by proxy the reader, psychologically and that’s phenomenal! That Massimo is able to transfer emotions or feelings from the page to the reader reinforces my belief in his writing ability, talent and skill.

I am enjoying 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 we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter is marvellously done. Seriously, the way that their personalities come to the forefront is exceptionally well rendered. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story things get even weirder.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificently rendered. These layers open up avenues to be explored and they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story and boy howdy does this ever have an impact. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am totally a fan of the interiors here. The linework is so gorgeous it’s light yet strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail that we see within the work is amazingly well done. The backgrounds being utilised so prevalently is fabulous as they expand and enhance the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the 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 masterful eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a brilliant eye for how colour works. I love seeing things like shadows on the ground, the way we see the colour create depth and dimension are so well rendered.

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I’m still not sure what the heck is really going on and why that one boy with the holes in body has that creature following him around but that’s for a later reveal I suppose. We’re seeing the symptoms but not the cause and Massimo really crafted this in such a way that he’s amped up the intrigue factor on the dial way past ten by creating a story that is being told like we’ve never seen before. The writing is brilliant, the characterisation is sensational and the interiors are bloody gorgeous. If you aren’t reading this then you need to change that because you’ll not only thank me but you’ll discover a whole new world of reading through Scout Comics.