Fishkill #2

Fishkill #2

Heavy Metal Comics 2020

Created & Written by Dan Fogler & Laurence Blum

Illustrated & Lettered by Ben Templesmith

Fish Kill is a love story wrapped in a modern noir that takes our hero, Detective Bart Fishkill, so far down the conspiracy rabbit hole that he starts to question his own sanity even to the point of wondering whether if he isn’t the villain in the first place.

This is one of those books that draws you in and keeps you glued to the page with this bizarre fascination. The story itself is pretty straightforward and it’s really Ben’s work on the interiors that take the story to that next level of eeriness that you experience. Last issue ended with a bang, that’s for damn sure, so to open up this issue the way we do is a little puzzling and disconcerting. I will say that this isn’t what I was expecting to see at all so I am thrilled by the fact that this story takes a turn that keeps me on my toes as well as continuing to engage me and my mind to come up with scenarios for what is happening here and where it goes next.

The way that this is being told is fantastic! The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. Also I love the fact that we see real news outlets being utilised. The character development is interesting and to see Bart trying to cope with the events and with his condition throughout adds this really great aire of tension and dread to the story. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way it manages to create this almost Mad Hatter type of lullaby feel that is perfect for this store.

I am enjoying the way we are seeing this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to gain momentum. How everything here works together to create the tory’s ebb & flow and how it makes it easy to seemingly breeze through the pages is exceptional.

Ben has this unique talent that cannot be replicated and it’s what makes his work so gosh darn entertaining. How we see the imagery evokes so much emotion and feelings that course through the reader. The way that we see the utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is gorgeous and to see not only the choices but how the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work. A lot of this wouldn’t work as well without the colour that we see here and how a light source is utilised to cast not only light but varying degrees of shadows as well.

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There are so many different moving parts going on here and if those dudes are who they say they are, which I seriously doubt all things considered, then this version of New York City is now under no one’s control. It is becoming a free for all full of madness and opportunists as the bomber is still out there on the loose and I cannot imagine he is none too pleases that Bart is getting the blame and attention for his work. If life has taught me anything it’s that wehn chaos erupts there is no safe haven and there is no one you can count upon but yourself. This is such a great book and it just captures something deep within you that really compels you to desire more.