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Maniac Of New York #3

Aftershock Comics

By Steven LeitmanPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Maniac of New York #3

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Elliott Kalan

Illustrated by Andrea Mutti

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

The mindless murderer Maniac Harry has massacred all but three riders on New York’s

automated subway train. Can hapless straphanger Gabriella keep one step ahead of Harry, while still protecting the newly orphaned twins she’s taken under her wing? Can our heroes Gina Greene and Detective Zelda Pettibone jump aboard the runaway train and find the survivors before Harry slaughters them? Plus, finally learn what life-altering mistake got Zelda trapped on the Maniac beat!

This is one of those rare series that takes the slasher genre to whole new heights as the women who are on the forefront of the task force to find him and take him down take centre stage. Very little is known about Maniac Harry and that’s the way it really should be because I don’t wanna know what made him this way, I like things the way they are right now. He is who he is and that’s that and that we are focusing instead of Gina and Zelda is in my humble opinion the right way to explore to this story.

I am very much enjoying 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. I am thoroughly and utterly impressed with the way Harry takes us through the train and without a real word to boot it heightens his creepy factor and it’s horrific in all the right ways. The character development is magnificent and it’s about mood, tone and feel as much as the dialogue or how the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way it’s easy to be fascinated and scared at the same time.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story are growing, changing and evolving with new information that we get is kind of brilliantly done. The way that we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it movies he story forward is incredibly well done. Impressive is an understatement here folks because what we see is so much more than that.

I am always impressed with Andrea’s ability to tell a story visually and this issue puts a huge spotlight on that. With so few words the bulk is up to him and with his linework and how we see the detail work being created through the varying weights and how the colour highlights what we see extra depth and dimension really gives this a grade A punch up in weight class. How we see backgrounds being utilised and how they work within the composition within the panels and how that is utilsied to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book is gorgeously rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work and how we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and colour work is exceptional work indeed.

The creativity and imagination that we see on full display here is astounding. With the whole tension filled run from car to car as all but three are slaughtered along the way this isn’t your typical book. I love that the bloodshed is there but not gory as it really allows for the spatter effect to happen without visceral parts. This is purely and simply some absolutely stunning storytelling.

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About the Creator

Steven Leitman

Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.

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