Clans of Belari #2

Clans of Belari #2

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Peter Blackie & Bob Blackie

Illustrated by Daniel Maine

Coloured by Carlos Lopez

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

The Clan Chieftains rebuke Cluthian’s bid for Chieftain status, so he turns to amassing alien-tech weapons with which he may take what he wants by force. Te’a has gotten a taste for flying, and despite the class rules against her — she wants nothing more than to become a pilot. She convinces Gummy to pressure a mysterious underground operator to circumvent the rules, but in doing so, Gummy has made a deal with the devil (yes, Cluthian) that is certain to come back to haunt him and Te’a.

Oh my stars and garters does this issue really ramp things up. Between Te’a and Cluthian this issue really starts to take this story in some directions that we might not expect to see. I was seriously shocked to see what happened in this issue so that means the boys have done an excellent job of not only keeping me on my toes by surprising me but they continue to create this absolutely sensational story. Things on this planet are going to change but how and why are reasons that we may not actually like or want to see but there’s no denying that change is coming.

I am absolutely 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 and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter as it continues to flesh them out beautifully. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more enrapt the reader becomes.

I am loving the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. These new avenues that have presented themselves and with what we’ve already seen the way that all this adds depth, dimension and complexity to the story in some great ways. It really adds so much to the first issue and keeps raising the bar. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is expertly achieved.

It is a good, solid comic book style art on the interiors here. The linework we see is clean, crisp and strong and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create the attention to detail that we see is pretty spectacular. I will say that ship leaving Earth is some of the best work we see in this issue, with the colours and all it’s one sweet ship. I like that we see backgrounds throughout the book and how they expand and enhance the moments while working with the composition within 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 remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows an extraordinary eye for how colour work and how to maximise its effects.

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I’m fascinated by this book and I can see the trend of each issue getting better than the last and this excites me. I had no idea this was going to go this way honestly and I couldn’t be happier about that so trust me when I say this NEEDS to be on your reading list. It’s amazingly well written with superb characterisation and dynamic interiors that make this story come to life beautifully.