Pennyworth #2

Pennyworth #7

DC Comics 2021

Written by Scott Bryan Wilson

Illustrated by Juan Gedeon

Coloured by John Rauch

Lettered by AW’s DC Hopkins

More MI6 adventures for the star of TV’s Pennyworth! While investigating the possibility of nuclear weapons in a Soviet military base near the arctic circle on behalf of MI6, Alfred and Shirley find the real danger is something they never expected: a human science experiment gone terrifyingly wrong! Meanwhile, in the present, Alfred tries to figure out just who of his many enemies has it out for him this time…

I like this book a heck of a lot. We learn things here about Alfred that we’ve only seen in action over the years. I mean we knew he was MI6 before being the Wayne’s butler and he gathered some really solid skill sets from that but more interesting is what we learn his father taught him that ties all aspects of the man we know together. I’m really impressed with how what we learn and how this is injected into the story as it unfolds and the ramifications that it has for the now segments. This is a genuinely intelligently and smartly written book that’s far more in-depth and interesting book than I was expecting to see.

I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development 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 narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter as it really does a magnificent job in fleshing out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we become embroiled in the intrigue that is happening.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen showcases just how extraordinarily this book is being written, crafted and executed. I love seeing the layers and how they tie into one another or just put something out there as they add this fantastic 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.

The interiors here are really rather quite nice. The linework we see with the varying weights and techniques bringing about this level & quality in the attention to detail is brilliantly rendered. I positively adore the way we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book and how they manage to enhance and expand the moments. They also work well 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. 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 way we see the colour work is extraordinarily rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding how colour works. I love how we see the creativity and imagination in the work and the colours being able to create the mood, tone and feel at any given moment.

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This series, along with the show it is based off of, is utterly spectacular and it really brings us a side of Alfred that we’ve never seen before. It takes the simple butler who knew Bruce Wayne’s secret and really gave him a life and purpose beyond what we’ve come to know. He’s an amazing man in his own right and it’s a shame that he’s gone, at least for now as we all know no one ever stays dead in comics. This is extraordinarily intelligent writing and sensationally dynamic characterisation with these phenomenal interiors really manage to take Alfred to a whole new height of respect in my eyes.