Steambound #1

Steambound #1

Behemoth Comics 2021

Written by Giuseppe Andreozzi

Illustrated by Lorenzo Di Santo

Coloured by Francesca Cittarelli

Pandora. It is easy to get lost on the streets of megacities, like our protagonists, Hound, Yaeger, and Alice have. Raised together and linked by friendship and spider addiction, Hound is a knight of the order's restricted council, while Yaeger, genetically modified, works for the city's criminal cartels. Alice's request for help will force the group to join again.

Alright so here’s what I love about this. On a strange world where humanoid culture has grown to the point where overpopulation has caused these megacities to grow. So this is a great example of the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor and I doubt there’s a middle class at all. So for Hound to get out of the slums is a big deal and as we see this story of them as kids and adults throughout the book is utterly amazing. This has that cautionary feel to it but as a side effect of the story itself so it’s not really something said but something felt by the reader. The way this team brings this to life, the city, the characters and their place here is by far one of the more impressive feats I have seen done in comics lately.

I love, love, love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. Add into the fact we see Hound and Yeager as kids to start things off then see them grown up in one of the most amazing then and now that we hae seen lately. With how this is structured and how the layers within the story emerge we get to see one of the more interesting introductions around. The character development is out of this world! The dialogue and interaction between the boys and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances really flesh them out as people. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through pages revealing the world, characters and what’s to come we find it’s over all too soon. With how everything works together here to create the story’s ebb & flow is beyond marvellous.

The interiors here are fantastic!the linework is strong and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail work we see is utterly gorgeous. The way that backgrounds are being utilised and how we see them in the composition within the panels helps to create the mood, tone and feel in the book. The faces and facial expressions are phenomenal and I love the kids faces and how they express so much. The characterisation they bring to this is so lovely to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows such a strong eye and understanding how colour works. Plus the creativity and imagination that is on display here is off the charts and Puk is the greatest example of this.

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I am thrilled beyond belief with this issue and how it introduces us to this story. This is a perfect example of why I keep telling all of you to look for books outside the larger companies and find these smaller press publishing houses. After all this is the kind of storytelling that will not only impress you but thrill you as it takes you to places you never thought you’d go.