GiGa #4

GiGa #4

Vault Comics 2021

Written by Alex Paknadel

Illustrated by John Lê

Coloured by Rosh

Lettered by Aditya Bidikar

Finally reunited with Evan, Aiko reveals a secret that will shake the city to its foundations. Meanwhile, the Order's persecution of the Dusters passes a bloody point of no return. Allegiances switch and battle lines are drawn as the terrible truth of the Giga's origins is finally revealed.

Well this issue certainly has it all that’s for sure. Secrets, lies, manipulation and intrigue all surround one characters actions both in the past and present and it could spell complete and total upheaval for the world as Evan knows it. Is there anything he can do? Not likely but knowing this brave young man he’ll try something and I cannot wait to see what that will be. I love what Alex is doing with this story, he brought Aiko back into his life after such a long time and she’s not the same person she used to be as she’s so much worse. This is what happens when friends lose touch, sometimes you can pick up right where you left off other times its like you never knew them at all and unfortunately this is the latter. That Alex engages the reader in such a strong and familiar way, familiar to everyone, is a testament to his skill and talent.

I am 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 presented exceedingly well. The character development is phenomenal thanks to how we see the dialogue, the character interaction as well how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we are taken on a journey through some amazing storytelling.

I appreciate how we see this being structured and how the layers within he story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen or new emerge depending on which of the ongoing or new avenues open up. These layers contain some stellar characterisation as well as help work with the main arc to keep the story moving and all of them add this depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

I cannot get over how good the interiors are. The linework is incredible and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is really rather extraordinary. Backgrounds are extremely well utilised throughout the book and how they enhance the moments while also working within the composition of the panels to provide depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is magnificently rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts, seeing Aiko and the city scene in her body, and how w e see the angles and perspective in the panels show an incredibly talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a superb eye for how colour works.

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This book has been pretty amazing from the get go and somehow Alex has managed to take each issue that comes out and raise the level of storytelling for each one. If this is at or near the apex then I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the next one as it should be off the charts or at least raised to a sound level 12! With some amazing storytelling & characterisation wrapped up in some creative and dynamic interiors this book is about to explode and if you haven’t been along for the ride just yet you need to make sure you get yourself a ticket ASAP!