Purgatori #02

Purgatori #02

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Ray Fawkes

Illustrated by Álvarao Sarraseca

Coloured by Salvatore Aiala

Lettered by Tom Napolitano

Purgatori! She’s the girl with the great horns and the biggest body count. Now she’s fighting battles inside and out -- monsters trying to kill her in the trackless forests of Europe, and witches trying to take control of her one-track mind. And through it all, one central question nags her over and over – How the hell did she end up in Norway?! She’d better figure things out, or someone’s gonna get gored in the fjord.

One aspect of this that I don’t really remember seeing from Purgatori is her ability to recall the life of those she’s drained. In this instance by calling forth Skarde and his memories of this place so that she knows where she is is pretty brilliantly handled. It is a handy skill to have so long as those within her don’t try to hijack the vessel. I also very much appreciate seeing local lore being utilised like the Draugar since they are native to Scandinavian lore. It just adds a little something extra to the story that I at least appreciate. How we see the story continue to unfold and the fact that Purgatori seems to rely upon instinct and those she’s absorbed to figure things out instead of using her own smarts is still something that’s up in the air for me.

I’m very much enjoying 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 as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job spotlighting their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, introducing new characters and locations the more interesting things become.

I’m really pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also like how we see the layers within the story opening up new avenues to be explored and how they add such great 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 are impeccably handled.

I’m digging the interiors here a whole heck of a lot. The linework is superb and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is extraordinary to see. We see some nice use of backgrounds here, even if it's imagery instead of simply blank spaces they do wonders in enhancing and expanding the moments. They also work 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 shows a magnificent eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the panels being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a sensational eye for how colour works. The pattern in the brick wall or the universe swirl are perfect examples of what I mean.

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I’m loving that we see Purgatori being unapologetically herself, of course these witches' actions really should’ve altered her to the fact something was wrong and I find it hard to believe she’s this easy to manipulate. Still this is a fresh, new and exciting take on the character that we’ve not seen before and this kind of thing is just beyond great to see. With some incredibly solid writing and interesting characterisation wrapped up in these dynamite interiors Purgatori takes her rightful spot as one of the more unique women populating the Dynamite Universe.