Chasing the Dragon #2

Chasing the Dragon #2

Heavy Metal Presents/Magma Comix 2021

Written by Denton J. Tipton

Illustrated by Menton3

Lettered & Designed by Gilberto Laqzcano

Explore a dark fantasy world ravaged by the rampant abuse of a drug made from the blood of dragons. Two escaped slaves must overcome their fears before attempting to cross a deadly acid lake. But they don't have a moment to lose, with the kingdom's most notorious slave hunter hot on their trail.

This is amazing interesting to see unfold. There is something that borders on erotic with what we see throughout the book as our two heroes, for lack of a better term, are out trying to get to their destination. I mean I’m sorry but the outside of the castle has a very phallic look and feel to it. I am also pretty impressed with the way that Denton is writing this as he’s not wasting any time with how the story progresses while still leaving enough open for the reader to become more fully engaged and wonder/think/speculate on what it is they are seeing. Plus there is some levity to what we see as well, “well, i’ll be an Elvish uncle” yeah that made me crack a smile with a silent giggle.

I am digging 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 two of them are so lost and are winging it as they go from here to there and somehow they’ve got the wherewithal to understand that time isn’t on their side and it has this odd affect upon the reader which is a welcome sight. This goes hand-in-hand with the character development of course and they appear to be such innocents but there’s a gut feeling that tells me otherwise and i’m not exactly sure why but it’s there. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more the reader becomes a part of this world, willing or unwilling participant if you will.

How we see the structured with the layers within the story continuing and new ones arising really do draw the reader in and engage their minds to think as much as experience what they see. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow while constantly moving the story forward is wonderful to see.

Damn Menton3 and his god given talent. The white hair, or absence of colour, against such a dark and dreary background is startling. The man’s face on page two is something I may see in my nightmares and all the phallic symbols yeah wow it all conspires to really create this hypnotic and mesmerising effect. I know this is painted but it feels like there’s more than that going on here and you could simply get lost for hours staring at page after page and never get bored. Sometimes it takes me longer to read this because i’m so wrapped up in seeing how utterly gorgeous this work is. The composition within the panels and how they serve to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellously rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an incredibly masterful eye for storytelling. The colours, good lord the colour work is divine. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extraordinary.

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There is just something here, something that engages the reader on multiple levels and ignites their creativity and imagination so incredibly well. The writing is stupendous and the characterisation is super solid and these magnificent interior pages bringing it all to life means there is no reason whatsoever why this isn’t in your reading pile.