O.B.E. Out of Body Experience #2

O.B.E. Out of Body Experience #2

Antarctic Press 2021

Written by C.M. Bratton & Kerry Valderrama

Illustrated by Christopher Allen

Coloured by Lee Duhig

Lettered by Doug Dlin & Christopher Allen

As tensions and mysterious murders escalate, Cole and Amari visit the enigmatic Club Industria looking for clues. There, Cole learns that in order to get the answers he seeks, he'll have to go to the one place he loathes and fears... the Astral Plane itself. Will this dark path lead to the killer, or only yield more questions and suppressed anguish.

So apparently those that like to have these out of body experiences, obeers, treat it like a drug that has this euphoric aspect to it that keeps them addicted to the experience. It takes addiction to a place we’ve never seen it go before and I like that innovative and fresh feeling that something as seemingly as innocent as an out of body experience could be as addictive and dangerous as any hardcore drug? Still what this does is open up a new realm of possibilities that would normally be considered innocent and I’m excited by the possibilities that these represent. Also that this is so well written shouldn’t go unnoticed either and the bravado that Detective Cole is putting out is remarkable in and of itself.

I am completely and utterly into 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 and the way that they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a magnificent job in fleshes them out as real people. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we’re caught up in this experience in some surprising ways.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge, continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. The layers contain the characterisation, the plot twists and so much more and whether or not they work with the main arc or not they add so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am a huge fan of the way that we see the interiors here. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is sensational. I also really love how we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the issue as they enhance and expand the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels bringing out the depth perception, sense of scale and the 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 remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a really talented eye for how colour works.

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Detective Cole is a very complicated man and to see him utilising techniques that make him uncomfortable for a myriad of reasons continues to demonstrate that he is someone that shouldn’t be underestimated. Also what appears to be a flippant or cavalier attitude is smoke screen to hide that he’s really that uncomfortable so the way that we see this being written is so amazing to me that you don’t see the forest for the trees. With some extraordinary writing and intelligent characterization and interiors that leave the reader positively chuffed makes this one offering that you shouldn’t want to pass up.