Maniac of New York: The Bronx is Burning #1

Maniac of New York: The Bronx is Burning #1

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Elliott Kalan

Illustrated by Andrea Mutti

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

The bloody saga of Maniac Harry continues!

After the tragedy of The Death Train. Detective Zelda Pettibone and mayoral aide Gina Greene have lost the trail of the Maniac — and the support of the city. Copycats are springing up. tensions are high and traffic is a nightmare. So. What happens when your favorite unstoppable mindless killer resurfaces in a Bronx high school? Can Zelda and Gina get there before Maniac Harry adds to his body count? Will the students tear their attention away from their phones long enough to notice there’s a monster in the halls?

I am really glad this is back because now we know the truth that Harry is continuing his bloody rampage after the final events of the last arc. What strikes me right away is that not only is the task force still active but now we are seeing copycat crimes happening although they are most noticeably not the real deal considering they talk and don’t just hack up folks. Now that his notoriety is that much more widespread the girls really have their work cut out for them. The only thing is that Harry isn’t going to get caught until he’s already ankle deep in blood so his body count is going to rise before they can catch up to them.

I’m 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 are handled exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in bringing out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see.

I am really impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I am also liking the way that we see the layers here opening up new avenues to be explored. Such as the copycats or what happens with the braggart as these add so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

Oh I love Andrea’s work and the work he does within these pages just showcases why. The attention to detail that we see right off the bat, the bottles of booze for instance, thanks to this stupendous linework and its varying weights and techniques. How we see backgrounds and the composition within the panels enhance and expand the moments as well as bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is magnificently 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 watercolour effect of the work is simply stunning. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows such a masterful eye for how colour works. Andrea is one of today’s most exciting artists.

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I love the fact that Harry is like some of Slasher Films greatest icons and seems to be otherworldly strong and immortal. He’s not I’m sure but still that he has the mystique that surrounds him makes him someone we really want to see. It’s that weird fascination with evil that we have and thanks to the strong writing, stellar characterisation and these brilliantly rendered interiors we see this on full display.