C.H.E.S.S. #2

C.H.E.S.S. #2

Second Sight Publishing 2021

Written by Alfred Paige & Alex De-Gruchy

Pencilled by William Reyes

Inked by Jesse Hansen

Coloured by Uan Cakra

Lettered by Jaymes Reed

After the Events of last issue, the C.H.E.S.S. Team decides to take the offensive. By breaking into Nakadais office building. A decision that turns bad. As they run straight into his personal Hit Squad lead by his crazy daughter Yumi. The action gets crazy!

I really like this series. I know it’s only two issues in but I can already see the potential for this series based on what we see throughout these pages. Plus considering what I do here I would like to think I have a sixth sense about a series and know what works and what doesn’t. This works on a lot of levels and it holds the readers attention and engages their minds so yeah I do believe that this has the potential to be the next big team book. I do think that by having the team roster, names and faces, on the inside cover with the credits would be most helpful so there’s something to think about I mean I keep wanting to call Moore, Dart.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see 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 is magnificent. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we see such great action, intrigue and so much more that it draws us deeper into the story than we’d thought possible.

I appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. I really like that these layers contain some great characterisation and some new avenues opening up so whether they work with the main arc or swirl around it it does bring depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it move the story forward is achieved exceptionally well.

I am really enjoying the interiors here. The linework we see is strong, clean and crisp and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create the detail work is astonishingly well rendered. I really would like to see backgrounds being utilised more, if they are in a hallway I wanna feel that cramped space they are fighting in. We do get some nice depth perception, a 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 an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is extremely well rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great eye for how colour works.

With Moore at the mercy of a telepath of some strong talent the group may or may not find themselves in jeopardy. Or perhaps it’s Avery that really will find himself trying to play catch-up to Taksashi Nakadai and we can pretty much guess what was said off camera. Meanwhile the first ending here is the one that really makes my nose twitch.

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There is so much going on here and it’s beautifully presented. Nothing is cramped or glossed over or leaves us feeling like something is rushed. The writing is stupendous and the characterisation is phenomenal this goes along with the quality of the interiors highlights just how good this book is. If you haven’t gotten this yet have it ordered for you and trust me this has all the feel of a classic team book but made for a modern age.