Dark Ages #2

Dark Ages #2

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Tom Taylor

Illustrated by Iban Coello

Coloured by Brian Reber

Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino

It has been years since the age of technology ended in a single moment, like a switch had been flicked to off for an entire planet. Now Earth’s heroes attempt to bring humanity together in the darkness. X-Men and Avengers, vigilantes and villains all work together to create something better. But something darker than the night is descending on the world. Our post apocalyptic world is about to face Apocalypse.

There is something about this that I wasn’t expecting to see. The story itself is solid and with the world fractured and so many dead it’s like the Earth itself has been reset or should I say is in the process of resetting itself. Now aside from those that are left being able to put aside their differences and bring the world back to some sort of semblance of what they knew there comes a new and more powerful threat to existence. There will always be those that don’t care about anything other than the power they can gain and if they destroy what’s left of the Earth to get it, then oh well what kind of problem would that be to one such as he?

I am very much 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 narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a marvellous job bringing out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we begin to see the sheer size and scope of the story unfolding.

I’m a fan of the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. The layers open up new avenues to explore and while some will be and others won’t be, what they all manage to do is add this great depth, dimension 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 impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are really quite strong. The linework we see with its varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work we see throughout the book is marvellously rendered. That we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book as much as we do excites me and they really enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great understanding of how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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Considering we only see a handful of characters at any given point in time it is easy to go off page and wonder what some of the others are up to, if they’ve survived and where they are guarding. There are things that we do see that equally make us question what we see and wonder about reasons and reasoning, also if it's simply selfish to bring the world back to where it was. That the story can entertain and engage at such high levels and that this doesn’t need a company wide crossover to be told is utterly fantastic. The writing is strong and interesting and the characterisation is sharp and clever while the interiors are precisely what we need to be seeing to bring this all to life.