Stillwater #7

Stillwater #7

Skybound Entertainment/Image Comics 2020

Written by Chip Zdarsky

Illustrated by Ramón K Perez

Coloured by Mike Spicer

Lettered by Rus Wooton

Chaos in Stillwater erupts! With the Judge out of commission, Ted and his militia storm the town and take control. But in this small town where no one can die, there are others willing to go further…

This is a phenomenal little series and now after it was secretive, violent and overly protective it has gone completely off the rails and I couldn’t be any more excited by this! I mean there’s a new element in town and it is going to be hell on earth for the foreseeable future and I gotta say it sends shivers down my spine thinking about what we’re seeing and the possibilities that they represent. This is engagement on a whole new level and if you thought you were engaged before forget about it this is outrageous at the very least. I’m more excited now than I have ever been for this series and since the first issue instilled such a fervour in me for the possibilities that now that the guys have ramped this up to a level I never though was possible to reach well i’m left gobsmacked.

I love 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 perfectly presented. The character development is beyond amazing and through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really flesh them out as people. That we know the knew characters, their motivations and who they are so quickly is a testament to how well Chip is able to use his god-given talent. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story along with the twists & turns along the way we’re drawn into this so we want to be in this town, we want to be a part of this and we want to stand up alongside Daniel.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve, strengthen and emerge anew is what keeps this feeling fresh, new and exciting. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is stunningly well achieved.

The interiors here are mindbogglingly brilliant to behold. The linework is exquisitely laid down and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level and quality of detail work is phenomenally rendered. Backgrounds are judiciously utilised throughout and yet the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story really makes an impact upon the reader. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a brilliant eye for storytelling. The colour work is utterly magnificent. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a sensational eye for how colour can work to create mood, tone and feel that changes literally on a dime. That this is more muted or hazy in its appearance shouldn’t go unnoticed or unmentioned because that we see it so well rendered in this manner is truly stunning.

I sit here and remember how the first issue went down and what happened to Daniel’s best friend and now here we are with this whole new craziness going on that ties right back into that first issue. When you are forever young and are able to learn and become to think like a grown adult things are bound to happen that lets you get away with things because of your appearance you are literally underestimated. This is one of the most brilliant series that you could be reading and with such intelligent writing and beautifully drawn interiors its now wonder that this remains a fan favourite.