Home Sick Pilots #1

Home Sick Pilots #1

Image Comics 2020

Written by Dan Watters

Illustrated by Caspar Wijngaard

Lettered by Aditya Bidikar

In the summer of 1994, a haunted house walks across California. Inside is Ami, lead singer of a high school punk band—who’s been missing for weeks. How did she get there, and what do these ghosts want? Expect three-chord songs and big bloody action that’s Power Rangers meets The Shining (yes, really).

Okay well I had no idea what to expect from this but when I saw who the creators were I knew this was going to something outside the box and incredibly exciting. I was right too because this first issue is amazing and nothing, I mean nothing like I was expecting to see. The whole concept of the story is one that is pretty unique and I have only seen one other story that even comes close. I think the way that this is being presented is extremely interesting and it has this whole air about it that comes in waves as each new bit of information is presented. This is the perfect vehicle for these creators to unleash one hell of a great story arc.

I love 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 extremely well. There is this amazing flow to the story that we see thanks to the way the book is being structured as well as how the layering within the story emerges. The character development is fabulous! How we see them interact with one another, see dialogue, as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really continues to flesh them out as people. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, the world and the cast of characters we are in for such a huge delight.

There is one thing that I really about what I am seeing here and that’s the fact that the House in question, The Old James House, is pretty much a character in its own right. So with the cast of characters that we meet and those that are at the end of the issue is so well thought out and executed. This is outrageous and it is one hell of a great read.

The interiors here are gorgeous. Caspar does some incredible work and I love seeing what he comes up with. That first page alone where we see the Old James House yeah that is the kind of stuff that I really love seeing. The creativity and imagination that we see is astonishingly good. The linework is superb, it’s strong yet delicate when needed and how this creates the detail work with the varying weights is amazing to see. So the way that we see the backgrounds being utilised throughout enhances the moment and brings us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope for the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows an incredibly talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is utterly gorgeous. Not only are the choices inspired and how some pages pop because of nothing at all is as unexpected and creepy as it comes. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extraordinary.

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This is going to rock your world. It is so far beyond anything you could and will expect it to be. There is no denying the talent these creators possess and it is beyond delightful to see just how good they are wehn able to fully unleash their creativity. This is going to be a new favourite series going into the new year!