Spectre Inspectors #5

Spectre Inspectors #5

BOOM! Box 2021

Created & Written by Bowen McCurdy & Kaitlyn Musto

Illustrated by Bowen McCurdy

Lettered by Jim Campbell

Thanks to demons and ghosts, Cape Grace is living up to its reputation as the most haunted town in the USA.

* But now Gus, Ko, Astrid, and Noa are beginning to suspect local clergyman, Father Lucas Von Brandt, and his congregation may not be what they claim to be.

* Can the Spectre Inspectors save Cape Grace from itself... without making the ultimate sacrifice?

I am loving this series so very much. This may be the final issue of this arc and it is an oversized issue at that but that doesn’t mean it’s over, please don’t tell me i’m wrong because I want to see their further adventures. While this is a complete and phenomenal introductory story to these characters what surprised me the most about all this, other than that the kids who want instant fame by doing this program they hoped to get picked up, is how calm and cool under pressure they’ve been throughout all this. I mean they found a whole lot more than they bargained for and while they found ghosts it was because a demon found them first. So yeah in a completely roundabout manner they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

I am a huge 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 is presented exceedingly well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the epic twists & turns before the conclusion is what makes the reader want to see oh so much more.

I am enjoying the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow and evolve right up until the last page. The layers of course are where we see the twists & turns as well as where we see the crazy good characterisation which of course adds this delicious depth 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 achieved exceptionally well.

The interiors here are absolutely delightful. The linework is wonderful and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail work is beautifully rendered. I do wish we’d see more backgrounds and hopefully the next project Bowen works on he’ll go ahead and add more. How we see the creativity and imagination on display here is really exceptional work and the demon both as a horrific being and a named being it its own right really shines. How we see the composition within the panels being utilised to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is rendered exceptionally well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellously talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as delightful. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is beautifully rendered.

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Even I didn’t see some of the twists & turns coming and I love that these folks have been able to surprise me in ways I never saw coming. While much of the focus has been on the girls I’m still dying know more about the boys and their relationship goals in life. This has been one of the greatest positive views of a group of teenagers who want to do something with their lives and are going about it with a level of integrity that sends a great message. For teen+ title I couldn’t think of anything better than this right here.