Compass #1

Compass #1

Image Comics 2021

Written by Robert Mackenzie & David Walker

Illustrated by Justin Greenwood

Coloured by Daniela Miwa

Lettered by Simon Bowland

Shahidah El-Amin is many things: scholar, cartographer, astronomer, mathematician, scientist, explorer, adventurer, and—when need be—two-fisted fighter. Setting out from Baghdad's legendary House of Wisdom during the Islamic Golden Age, Shahi's quest brings her to 13th-century Britain…where the Welsh are whispered to possess the secret of eternal life. But Shahi's not the only one after it…

Well colour me intrigued as it isn’t very often we get to see a young woman who comes from where Shahi does being a scholar nowadays let alone then. So that we have this young woman who reads, writes and speaks multiple languages, knows her way around technology and has gadgets galore she becomes something a predecessor to Indiana Jones. This caught my eye but I wasn’t sold on it through Previews alone so it took an actual read through before I realised that this was actually a whole lot better than I was expecting it to be. There isn’t a traditional opening here and instead it’s a series of events that carries it through the entire issue to the last page. I like this because it defies tradition and if you are going to do so, do it spectacularly well as these folks have here.

I rather like the way that we see this 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, character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really does wonders in fleshing them out as it does moving the story forward. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, introducing us to the characters and the world they inhabit we’re drawn spectacularly well.

I’m pretty impressed with the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and continue to emerge with each new encounter. These layers contain extra characterisation and open up avenues that may or may not be ones that are to explored but regardless they do add depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

I am really rather enjoying the interiors here. The linework is sensational and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level of detail work is inspiring. From the utilisation of backgrounds to the lines that make up faces, facial expressions and body language what we see really enhances the moments beautifully. We also get some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. Also the creativity and imagination that is on display comes in some really nice unexpected moments they really make those moments standout. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling, I am also rather impressed with the colour work we see. Whether it is in the dark or the light of day how we see the various hues and tones being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is brilliantly rendered.

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I love this, it has a brilliant young female lead who showcases that you can be whatever and whomever you choose to be regardless of societal norms. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do and as we see Lord Ednyfed and his attitude but it’ll be next issue before we see whether he changes his stance on that or not. With a splendid cliffhanger ending and the promise of more intrigue to follow this is off to stunning start and I look forward to seeing what these guys have in store for us next.