Miles To Go #3

Miles To Go #3

Aftershock Comics 2020

Written by B. Clay Moore

Illustrated by Stephen Molnar

Colour Assists by Nova Lee-Fortier

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

Barely escaping an ambush at home, Amara and Alea regain their bearings in a small town that holds deeply personal revelations for their partner on the run, aging hitman Moses Graves. It should come as no surprise that the defining experience of Moses’s earlier life came complete with betrayal, lies and murder, the repercussions of which haunt everyone involved to this day.

Well this issue takes some time off to flesh out Moses a bit since his introduction has been so fast and furious and Amara, through us by extension, know so little about him. I will say that this isn’t quite what I was expecting to see but then again I have full trust in Clay’s ability to tell a story. This is one of the reasons why I gravitate towards his work and for me this one is outside the norm of what I have come to expect from him that I simply cannot get enough of it. I will say one thing, I am disappointed that Moses wasn’t shown to us full frontal, to see him in those positions to hide himself is false modesty all things considered.

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 exquisitely. The character development is hands down some of the finest I have ever seen. To see Moses and then his old crush as well as the daughter whom we know her parentage regardless of how its phrased to us is the stuff that legends are made of. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way we get to see what was possibly the most important moment in Moses’ life to date and suddenly we see the reason for his return to the town even if he cannot voice it aloud.

The way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and bring us to places unknown is done so incredibly well. The way that we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is beautifully done. These are reasons that I enjoy Clay’s writing so very much and he somehow manages to make it look so darn effortless.

The interiors here are really spectacular. The linework we see is sensational it is strong, clean and crisp and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail work is gorgeous. I am actually impressed with how we see backgrounds being utilised here though there could be more as they do wonders in enhancing the moments but also bringing us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely nice to see.

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When you want to read some of the best storytelling around that doesn’t need the hype or fanfare then you need to be reading everything Aftershock Comics puts out. Exciting, adventurous and done by the best in the business this is what comics are supposed to be about.