Suicide Jockeys #3

Suicide Jockeys #3

Source Point Press 2021

Written by Rylend Grant

Illustrated by Davi Leon Dias

Coloured by Iwan Joko Triyono

Lettered by HdE

Dire circumstance force the Suicide Jockeys - a poor, usually drunken, almost certainly mentally ill crew of monster-fighting, tank-and-aircraft-piloting suckers - to partner with an old nemesis - a robot-wielding whack-job billionaire criminal. Oh, yeah... and Eihei Dogen makes an appearance?

Things here start to really amp up story wise. Actually I’m really surprised and impressed with the level of storytelling that we see within these pages. Without relying upon gimmicks or action sequences, what Rylend manages to convey here is a group of people with one goal and doing everything within their power to make that dream a reality. This is a very story driven issue and I for one think we don’t get near enough of these issues. There is so much happening within these pages and from different folks with different angles and yet all of it works towards the same common goal. The ideas proposed are intriguing and it certainly does a great job in engaging the reader and taking them off the page into their own mind, imagination and creativity-not to mention a fair bit of googling as well.

I am loving 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 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. This does a marvellous job of showing their ever changing, evolving personalities. The pacing we see is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more anxious we become to see if this plan is going to actually work.

I appreciate the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. How we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored, such as Denver’s time with Naomi, adds this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. It is the little things that often have the most subtle impact and Rylend knows how to create those moments. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

I absolutely love the interiors here. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques we see being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail is utterly fabulous. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they 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 a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a spectacular eye for how colour works.

​

So far I have to say that this is turning out to be so much better than I could have expected it to be. Old friends who are in reality more like family, which the infighting seems more the way that brothers and sisters fight, coming back together not for the one asking for the one on whose behalf the asking is done is exceptionally well rendered here. That we feel like this is a family, by choice which to me is more powerful, in such a short amount of time really showcases the kind of talent that Rylend has. As does how well this is being written and how exemplary the characterisation is and all of it is brought to life by these amazing interiors.