Eat The Rich #4

Eat The Rich #4

BOOM! Studios 2021

Written by Sarah Gailey

Illustrated by Pius Bak

Coloured by Roman Titov

Lettered by Cardinal Rae

Even as Joey struggles to make sense of everything she's seen, what role her beloved Astor has in it, and what it means for her relationship with him, Crestfall Bluffs is a flurry of activity preparing for the Thistleburn Unveiling Gala Party. When Joey intervenes in a situation she doesn't fully understand, it will bring everything to a head in the most unexpected way!

Joey really has gotten in over her head and while she’s still unsure about this whole eating the help business she’s been doing it and there’s some kind of addictive element to the whole thing and it’s something she cannot control. The more she’s exposed to it and these people the more she’s becoming a part of this world. I like seeing the progression from issue to issue as she’s changing and adapting to her new life while her protests or her inner conflict is something that continues to get quieter and quieter. Though that might all change after this issue but we’ll see because things really kind of get heated up here and I’m excited to see the direction things are going to gravitate towards. I’d say I’d like to see something happen but the way Sarah is writing this I'm not about to guess.

I’m a huge fan of 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 spectacularly handled. 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 continuing to flesh out these personalities through their changes. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the twists & turns come fast & furious.

I’m extremely impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m also liking how we see the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored. Whether or not these new avenues do indeed get explored or not they all 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 are impeccably achieved.

I’m enjoying the interiors here a whole heck of a lot. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp so that with the varying weights and techniques we see such great detail within the work coming out. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they 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 is remarkably well achieved. 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 shows a really strong eye for how colour works.

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This is an infinitely fascinating look at the world these people live in from all sides. Those who rule, those who enter and those who serve and honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this but it surely wasn’t this. Instead I’m seeing such a great story unfolding before us that has as many layers as an onion and if you're not careful peeling them back the result could be the same. With some stellar writing and intense characterisation alongside these classic comic book style interiors make this a read you don’t want to miss.