Red X-Mas #1

Red X-Mas #1

Scout Comics/Nonstop 2020

Written by Clay Adams & Alexandre O. Philippe

Illustrated by Fabio Ramacci

Coloured by Ilaria Chiocca

When Mrs. Claus dies in a tragic toy accident, Santa vows to make all those little brats pay! But when his rampage kicks off at the home of FBI agent Ellie Tewksberry, he messes with the wrong lady. Mama Bear will travel to the ends of the earth to save her son-and Christmas! This December, Santa must die! The newest entry in the Scout NONSTOP! Imprint. Enjoy the World Premiere issue followed by the entire story collected soon after in one volume.

Well this certainly lives up the reputation that Scout has put forward regarding this title. I have to admit I love a good adult Santa Claus story and while a part of me loves what Albert sees and another part of me wishes that it had been an elf lol. Now the opening here is incredibly interesting to me because for whatever reason the fabrication of Santa Claus to replace a pagan holiday by Catholic Church is something that I feel is represented here. Now of course the exact day this happened is up for debate and the Church naturally will deny it since it makes them look bad. Regardless I absolutely adore what it is we are seeing here.

I love 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 exceptionally well rendered. The way we are introduced to the story, the characters and this world keeps the readers’ imagination and guessing the entire time. The character development is amazing and as we go through the pages and see how they act and react to the situations and circumstances continue to help flesh them out beautifully. Also I love meeting Byron and Ellie and while they all seem disconnected at this point I cannot wait to see them meet up. The pacing here is amazing and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way really just make this so much more interesting than I was expecting.

Seeing how this is structured and how the layers within the story are emerging and how all this engages the readers’ mind is stunning. The way that we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is gorgeously rendered. I have to say that regardless of what time of year you discover this book, now through single issues or summertime and the trade, it’s going to make you see the holiday differently.

The interiors here are mindbogglingly gorgeous! Not only is the linework exquisitely laid down but how we see the attention to detail through the varying weights and yes techniques as well shows so much skill, talent and verve. The creativity and imagination on display here is outrageous in its scope and I have to say even the mundane seems extraordinary within these pages. 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 is beautifully rendered and to see how the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is sensational. I really like seeing how regardless of where we see this, the time of day or night and the talent involved is jaw dropping.

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This book is utterly and completely mindbogglingly well rendered. This is bloody brilliant storytelling in every single sense of the word. This transcends the season and opens up avenues of storytelling in ways that would make Robert Langdon itch to become involved.