North Bend Season Two #1

North Bend Season Two #1

Scout Comics 2021

Written by Ryan Ellswroth

Illustrated by Pablo De Bonis

Coloured by Paul Little

Lettered by Thomas Mauer

North Bend returns for the second and final arc! Brendan takes an unplanned journey back to his life as a soldier in the war in Russia. After visiting the ghosts of his past, paranoia takes hold as he gets firsthand experience of the crippling mind control drug DV. Jamie receives a stunning revelation about Brendan. And a greater, more sinister enemy is revealed in the trippiest issue of North Bend yet.

You know the issue is going to be something when it opens up the way that this one does. He was dosed exceptionally well to be left in that condition where he was and whether that dream is a memory and the beginning of the dream was triggered to take him to the memories we see is a huge mystery for now. Though I will say this, I've never seen Brendan look as hot as he does this issue and that’s just a side note. I’m really rather impressed with the whole flow of the book and how we see the segues from one part to the next is incredibly well handled.

I’m 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through 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 magnificent job in bringing us their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages navigating the past and the present I'm really impressed with how we see everything come to life.

I really appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I also like how the layers open up these avenues to be explored. Some of these happen in these pages, some engage the reader and threads go off page and into the readers’ head. This adds some wonderful 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 rendered.

I’m completely digging the interiors here. The linework is clean, crisp and strong while the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is extraordinary! That we see backgrounds utilised as we do to enhance and expand the moments is incredibly well handled and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is extremely well rendered. 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 sensational eye for how colour works. The sepia tones for the past and the brush strokes for the army pattern really highlight the talent we see.

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I will say I was a little disappointed in not seeing his shadowy junk while he was running, what is he a Ken Doll? Oh his home life isn’t so ring around the rosey now is it, but then a lot of guys after the military end up going home to cause broken homes simply because we don’t give them enough help to acclimate to the non war world. This is a great first issue and if you didn’t read the first arc that’s okay this one allows you to jump on board and follow along easily enough. This has some strong interesting writing and some trippy and solid characterisation with some extremely well rendered interiors. All this makes it a highly recommended read.