Paranormal Hitmen #2

Paranormal Hitmen #2

Behemoth 2021

Written by Brett Murphy

Illustrated by Wilson Gandolpho

There are ghosts running loose in Philadelphia! Has Dr. Mooney built a new Specter Cube? Will Gene and Devon be able to stop these ghosts on their own? Who is the mystery woman Alfonso Carboni called in for help?

I have waited for what seemed an eternity for this issue to come out. Oh boy was it absolutely worth the wait too because this is so much better than I remember it being. There are few books that I’ve come across that work exactly like they are supposed to and this is one of them. Each issue gets exponentially better than the last and while most books nowadays have a very consistent level throughout the whole arc this issue has been elevated since the last and that’s the sign of some very talented creators. Then of course this issue reveals a few things that were on the brain as well regarding the whole legitimacy of the cube and while the idea is a tad absurd seeing where it comes from makes complete and utter sense and makes me even more excited to see where this is going to go. I mean at some point the Fourth should come and try to take it and bring back their idol worship.

I love the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development advance through the sequence of events unfolding and how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development is amazing and the more I see of Gene and Devon the more I like them. Sure they are a couple of Guido’s but that’s the whole appeal, they became hitmen now they are paranormal hitmen and they do good things without a real body count. This odd couple is where it’s at folks and I am thoroughly enjoying their partnership. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story as well as the twists & turns it continues to get more and more captivating.

I like the way that this is structured which helps how the sequence of events unfold and how logical what we see is presented without feeling like we’re jumping around. Plus the layers within the story continue to grow and new ones emerge making the complexity of the story a lot more interesting. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is utterly delightful.

I will say that I am loving the interior artwork here. There is of course the creativity and imagination that we see on display which is a huge part of it, but there’s also some really nice representation of the late seventies too. The linework is nice and solid and along with the varying weights and techniques that we see being utilised to bring about the attention to detail that we see is stupendous. You know what comes next, backgrounds. Yep that’s right when we see them they are glorious, i mean the opening splash page, the inside of the bank and Gene’s house (in particular) are phenomenally well rendered. So seeing this I know that they can be incorporated into more panels. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work is fabulous! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show some real expertise. The greens, aqua’s and white that we see in the ghosts is a true highlight of that expertise.

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People if you were a fan of the old Blue & Gold team you need to be reading this. Though I will warn you this is a much smarter representation of that. This has style and class that you wouldn’t expect from it and it is just a very intelligently written story that happens to have some incredibly solid artwork to frame that story.