Monday Monday A Rivers of London Story #4

Monday Monday A Rivers of London Story #4

Titan Comics 2021

Written by Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel

Pencilled by José María Beroy

Inked by Sandra María Perea

Coloured by Jordi Escuin Llorach

Lettered by Rob Steen

A werewolf is on the loose in London and will stop at nothing to avoid capture!

Over the last few issues we’ve seen two kids running around behind Peter while he’s talking on the phone or just being where he works and it’s about time we saw and learned more about them. Not that we really learn more about them but this “silent” issue does focus on them and it is really nice to see. That the young lady who lives there is deaf makes the silent part of all this that much more understandable and it makes this that much more interesting to read. Not just that more impressive as well because we see these two know each other pretty much inside and out so that it doesn’t take a whole lot of communication between them to know what the other is talking about and by extension the reader is able to understand what exactly is going on between the two of them.

I am absolutely head over heels about 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 that we see through the minimal dialogue, the character interactions as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter fleshes their personalities out beautifully. Surprisingly this isn’t as difficult as one might think what with so little actual dialogue happening and I’m just beyond impressed with how the story is being told. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more I want the focus to be on these kids.

I love how we are seeing this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. That these layers open up new avenues to be explored and whether they are explored or not they all add this great 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 is immaculately rendered.

I really rather quite like the interiors here. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create the detail within the work that we see is spectacularly well rendered. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book makes me such a happy camper as they really enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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Time after time this remains to be one of those rare franchises where each arc is as strong, interesting and engaging as the one that came out before it. This kind of consistency is fantastic and it keeps me coming back for more. This really is the kind of issue that makes me happy because it focuses on these kids we’ve seen running through the backgrounds of the previous issues in the arc. The writing and characterisation here are exceptional and the interiors bring this to life beautifully.