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Commander Rao #1

Scout Comics

By Steven LeitmanPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Commander Rao #1

Scout Comics 2021

By Fell Hound

Backup Art by Jeremy Simser

Lettered by Lettersquids

On the final dawn of an exhausted war, a rogue commander sets out on a warpath to confront a tyrannical baron. A year later, stories are sung of her heroism, but the mystery of her motives remains.

I wasn’t sure what this was going to be about. Visually it reminds me of Captain Harlock with less of a manga feel but it's impressive nonetheless and it really drew me into the issue and the story beautifully. I’m really rather impressed with how easy the story is to follow along to and with a section with such few words happening it’s even more impressive to me. There is a really great blend in the mix of backstory and current story happening that allows the reader to really get the full knowledge of Captain Rao, her motivations and just the general overall oomph that the story needs to have. I found myself wishing that this were going to be more than a one-shot on multiple occasions and then got me thinking that it would be really nice to see more from Fell Hound in the future.

I’m very much liking 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 narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the characters, the story and this world it does an exemplary job in piquing the curiosity and getting us involved in what we see.

I’m really rather impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen, this includes the backup story as well as the two tie together nicely. That the layers open up different avenues to be explored, of which some are addressed again in the backup feature, and how they manage to add some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story is extremely well achieved. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are exceptionally well handled.

The interiors here are interesting. I like that we see manga influence in the artwork and the linework itself has this simple yet effective and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the details within the work is really rather nicely rendered. I also appreciate the mix of colour and black & white work in the same story and what that adds to the overall mix of then and now. I do wish we’d see more backgrounds being utilised but the way we see everything within the composition of the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is well orchestrated. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

The backup illustration is really rather impressive. This has a more traditional comic book feel to it and the detail within the work is utterly amazing to see. The black & white with gray tones looks absolutely stunning.

This is a great little world that we see created here. It is also a great introduction to Fell Hound for me and I look forward to seeing what else they have to offer us in the future. The writing is impeccable and the interiors are expressive & delightful.

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About the Creator

Steven Leitman

Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.

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