Maniac of New York #5

Maniac of New York #5

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Elliott Kalan

Illustrated by Andrea Mutti

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

The horrifying ride of the Death Train has come to its final stop, and Gina Greene is now the most hated woman in New York, scapegoated for the blood on the city’s hands. Life goes on, and no one has learned the right lesson – just as Maniac Harry rears his masked face again! Meanwhile, little girl survivor Lena becomes obsessed with the one clue that might lead to Harry’s defeat – but will anyone believe her?

Alright so this arc, that’s right I said this arc because we’re going to need to see more, is over and things have gotten to a point that we can take a breather. The women saved those two kids but with taking the fall wasn’t something I was really expecting to see. Alright it makes for interesting reading that’s for damn sure and then there’s Zelda knowing full well this isn’t really over but not wanting to admit it. The story is so complex and so interesting right up until the last page and that’s what makes this so impressive from Elliott.

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 exceptionally well. The character development has been impressive since day one and that hasn't slowed down one iota. Zelda sobering up more and Gina’s newfound backbone really makes me want to see more of these two women. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns as it tidies up some threads you cannot help but be impressed with this story.

This is being structured so incredibly well and the layers within the story continuing to grow, evolve and emerge are spectacularly rendered. Sure the police force is celebrating Zelda now, it makes them sick to do so, and Gina’s on a tour trying to put the record straight but then there’s young Lena and she knows as well we do Harry’s not gone. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is being achieved beautifully.

Andrea is a massive and influential force in the industry and I couldn’t be any happier to call myself a fan of his work. He has a very distinct style that he’s able to tweak according to what he’s working on to bring us different views of it and that’s talent folks. To see this with it’s linework consisting of the varying weights and techniques then to be finished off with the watercolour style colours and he doesn’t just illustrate a story he creates an experience for the reader. Backgrounds get utilised as he needs them to expand the moments without ever compromising the composition within the panels to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story being told. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling. The colour work is bloody brilliant. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work or simply to enhance the mood, tone and feel are remarkably rendered.

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Serial killers fascinate us for a myriad of reasons, mainly because we can enjoy them from the relative comfort of our couches. But Harry takes this a few steps further and is a butcher a modern day Jason Vorhees and that’s terrifying because he’s unable to be caught. We see way too much gun violence on the news these days so to go old school Friday the 13th brings a whole new level of terror to streets of New York. I cannot wait to see what is going to come next and I have no doubt it’ll be as amazing as this arc is.