Scout's Honor #1

Scout’s Honor #1

Aftershock Comics 2021

Created & Written by David Pepose

Illustrated by Luca Casalanguida

Coloured by Matt Milla

Lettered by Carlos M. Mangual

Years after a nuclear apocalypse, a new society has risen from the ashes...and their bible is an old Ranger Scout manual. A young Ranger Scout named Kit has endured the harsh survivalist upbringing needed to con-quer the irradiated Colorado Badlands. But after discovering a terrible secret once lost to histo-ry, Kit must risk everything on a dangerous quest to uncover the truth behind the Ranger Scouts' doctrine.

I am such a fanboy of David’s and the work that he does so that he’s getting this chance to keep doing these creator owned books excites me to no end. While I know for most folks the endgame is to work at the “Big 2” but personally I would much rather see the work these folks do with their own stuff. For me it has so much more passion and verve to it than what we get elsewhere, see by corporate mandate. The concept of this book and how we are seeing it come to life for us in this introductory issue is pretty spectacular. If there is something others should take notice of is the fact that David knows how to structure his book to really maximise the most information and surprises in one issue.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. I like that we aren’t visiting the event that took place when the bombs fell and instead we’re only dealing with the aftermath of when we see folks emerge from underground to reside on the surface once more. 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 here is phenomenal and I appreciate the duplicity, misdirection that works hand-in-hand with the way the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter as it fleshes them out from characters to people. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to this world and these characters beautifully.

I love the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story are emerging before us. This is exciting, fresh, new and mysterious and it opens the readers’ mind and imagination like a broken floodgate while keeping them engaged in the story itself. Plus how everything works together to create the stories ebb & flow is masterfully rendered.

I am a huge fan of the interiors here. The linework we see is phenomenal and how the varying weights and techniques that we see bring out the attention to detail within the work is utterly gorgeous. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout to enhance the moments and provide us with depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is perfectly done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a sensational eye for storytelling. The colour work is simply divine. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is amazing to see. Whether this is in light or darkness the way these hues and tones are seen shows such a fine understanding in how colour works.

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This is such a wonderful story who’s very title evokes different meanings for different people and doesn’t accurately represent what the story is about thus far that is. Instead it really is about perception, how we perceive what we are told, taught and given as we grow up and the consequences that come about from learning when nothing is what it appears to be. Do yourself a favour and make sure this is among the books you have in your pile because missing out the first time around, well that’s just lame.