Out #2

Out #2

AWA Upshot Studios 2021

Written by Rob Williams

Illustrated by Will Conrad

Coloured by Marco Lesko

In the waning days of World War Two, with the Allies advancing, a desperate Nazi officer unearths an ancient force of evil that he hopes will turn the tide of battle: a vampire. To test the power of his secret weapon, he unleashes the monster on an unsuspecting group of Allied POWs. It's up to Nocona, a Comanche language expert, to communicate with the vampire to find out what it really wants.

I can already tell this is going to be just a skosh better than last issue and each issue will subsequently be that much better than the one before it. Rob does this extremely well and considering what we are learning and how much we still have to learn it stands to reason my hypothesis would be correct. I love what we are seeing here, there’s this desperation on behalf of the German forces and that allied forces are of two minds, waiting for the inevitable rescue or escape. Personally at this point in time they are unwitting pawns in the machinations of desperate men who all have their own agendas when it comes to their new friend. Also I really appreciate that this picks up where we left off, this way it feels a lot more like it happens in real time.

I love 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 immaculately 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 which continues to showcase these ever evolving personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more questions are raised and the more tense your shoulders get.

I’m a fan of the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m also a fan of the way that we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored. These avenues add 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 is impeccably achieved.

These interiors are bloody bonkers, insanely good for clarification. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level and quality of detail within the work we see is astounding. How we see backgrounds, those stained glass windows and pillars are mindbogglingly brilliant, enhance and expand the moments are beautifully rendered. How we see them 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 marvellously handled. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a brilliant eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a master colourist in action. The creativity and imagination we see alongside the historical references leave me gobsmacked.

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This is hands down one of the creepiest comics around and has been for quite some time and if this trend continues then I am going to have a bit of a wee in my trousers. This is being exquisitely told with some bloody brilliant writing and interiors that take the story and bring this to new heights. That something can make you anxious, angry, apathy and a wide range of other emotions. You know that the creative team is working in such sync with one another to create something extremely extraordinary.