Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body #2

Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body #2

BOOM! Studios 2021

Written by Christopher Cantwell

Illustrated by Luca Casalanguida

Coloured by Giada Marchisio

Lettered by Andworld Design

The day before JFK is assassinated, our four "useful idiots" have -- against all odds -- found a damn good lookalike candidate for Lee Harvey Oswald. Some poor bastard named Sonny Germs from Dallas. The only problem is now they have to kidnap... and kill him, which wasn't part of the deal.

As Lee makes his way downtown, the unlucky four find themselves in a chase into Dallas. What happens if they catch Sonny, and what does it mean for Lee's plans on the fateful day, November 22, 1963?

To say that I am intrigued by this story would be an understatement and then when you add these “useful idiots” into the mix I have to say that this takes on a whole new level of What The Hell? I have to say though that the spotlight on this foursome does a marvellous job in telling us who they are and it makes me want to see more of them. They have some really strong moments, bonding even, and there’s plenty of humour that we see among their interactions which just makes me want to see what they can do as a team even more.

I am a 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 are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, 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 magnificent job in continuing to flesh out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story, the more engaged we become and the more we want to see.

I am extremely 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 am also liking how we see these layers open up new avenues to explore. Whether these avenues are explored or not they all add this 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 handled exceptionally well.

The interiors here are extremely well rendered. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create this level and quality of work in the attention to detail. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how we see them 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 show an absolutely remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a wonderful eye for how colour works.

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I’m still not sure what the bigger picture with all this is about and with this issue what Oswald is best known for actually happens. So what he’s up to and what these four are really needed for remains unclear to me at this time. This however isn’t a worry as I’m sure all will be revealed in due time. With some stellar writing and interesting characterisation wrapped up in the sensational interiors make this far more than it appears on the surface.