E-Ratic #1 Advance Review

E-Ratic #1 Advance Review

AWA Upshot 2020

On Sale 10-02-21

Written & Illustrated by Kaare Andrews

Coloured by Brian Reber

Lettered by Sal Cipriano

You're fifteen years old. You're suddenly granted incredible powers. Cool, right? There's only one problem: you can only use your powers for ten minutes at a time. What do you do when you have to save the world but you only have ten minutes to do it? This is the problem faced by Oliver Leif, a teenager who has just moved to a new town, and a new school, and is having a hard enough time navigating classes and his crush before the inter-dimensional monsters started showing up.

Oh My, as George Takaei would say. I love Kaare’s work and whether it’s intellectual, Renato Jones: The One %, or light hearted fun he puts so much of himself into the books he does, and this is what makes him among the most intriguing comics creators that I love to follow. Not met him yet but hopefully someday cause I got blank covers and LSH page in my book just for him. This book is sheer genius, not only does he nail the insecurities of a teenage boy but he infuses life and multiple sides to the kids he goes to school with.

The way that this is being told is bloody brilliant! 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 weaving around their personalities we see as Oliver meets them is crazy in what we see. So multifaceted are these kids and the adults, teachers and such are way out there but what it so effectively does is generate this interest and desire in the reader to want more. I want to know more, this is crazy good where you sit and wonder and have to reread everything. The pacins is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, these character and this world we get one of the best and most unusual experiences.

The way that this is structured and how the layers within the story emerge really takes the level of storytelling to a whole different level. Oliver and Casper’s mother for instance that threw me for a loop, in a good way. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is simply stunning.

The interiors are phenomenal. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to show the level and quality of detail work is mindbogglingly brilliant. The faces, the facial expressions are such that the characterisation they add is huge. The way we see backgrounds being utilised and how much detail goes into those as well just enhances the moments as well as brings us depth perception, a 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 divine. From how we see the people to how the way the sun hits the clouds in the sky its just simply brilliant. The hues and tones that we see within the colours that are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show us a brilliant eye for colour and how to use and apply it.

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There are a number of stories going on here and with whom and how they show themselves is done with this laser point precision and yet it Kaare makes it look so bloody simple to do. There are also a myriad of layers to the characters themselves and the intrigue and desire to understand is turned up past 10 and it doesn’t let up. It starts on the first page and doesn’t end on the last page it just stays with you. This is what happens when a creator gets free reign to unleash their creativity and work with others who help bring his vision to life because what we get is one of the most brilliant introductions to a series.