Out Of Body #1

Out of Body #1

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Peter Milligan

Illustrated by Inaki Miranda

Coloured by Eva De La Cruz

Lettered by Sal Cipriano

When Dan Collins wakes to finds his life hanging by a thread, he must use his astral projection to discover who tried to kill him. Who is the beautiful mystic who tries to help him? Why does August Fryne want Dan’s soul – and what does it have to do with a demon who seems to be Dorian Gray? A weird, occult detective thriller about life, death – and whatever lies in between.

I love books that fir outside the box, the norm, etcetera etcetera. Peter certainly knows his way around the ordinary and into the extraordinary and he does it so incredibly well. This introductory issue really does a magnificent job in setting the story up for the reader as it introduces us to the characters, this world and general story at large. I say at large because there are so few details given but then again there doesn’t have to be at this point it is a mystery after all and if we learn too much too quickly than it runs the risk of ruining that mystery for the reader.

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 exceptionally well. The character development is great and as the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing here is perfectly done and as it takes us through the pages it does a magnificent job in bringing us the idea of the story and these characters and drives us to want to see and know more.

I am really impressed with the way that this structured and how the layers within the story emerge throughout. These layers are infinitely fascinating and they work with each character that we meet so that the reader wonders how they are all going to tie together. Each one is a strong arc in and of itself which makes me happy to see where they are going to go, meet up and/or swirl around and it cause this excitement in the reader. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is spectacularly well achieved.

I am absolutely loving these interiors. The linework is bloody gorgeous and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to showcase this level and quality of the detail work is astonishing. I love the fact that we see backgrounds as prevalent as we do throughout the book and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is incredibly 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 colour work that we see is utterly divine. How the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is beautiful to see.

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With what we see this issue setting the stage for what‘s to come I’m already thrilled beyond belief with where this is heading. This has such solid and intelligent writing to it with these varied characters and gorgeous interiors there is such a richness and completeness to the book that makes you really want more. All of these components work together like the best of dishes do and I can’t wait to see what happens when it’s done being cooked.