Syphon #2

Syphon #2

Top Cow Productions 2021

Written by Patrick Meaney & Mohsen Ashraf

Illustrated by Jeff Edwards

Coloured by John Kalisz

Lettered by Troy Peteri

After being gifted with the power to siphon pain from others, Sylas found new purpose in life, but the weight of carrying others' burdens gradually wore him down. After meeting the mysterious Antonio, he discovers another side to the power, the ability to steal people's pleasures from them. Now he will have to decide whether to follow Antonio to a life of glamor and pure joy or keep carrying the weight of others' pain and find hope in the darkest corners of the world.

I like the fact that this story is moving along rather quickly, the pacing and flow are such that it seems to be a faster read that’s jam packed full of information. That nothing feels glossed over or forced into being just goes to show that you can write a story that is chock-full of information and still have it be incredibly enjoyable. Also the more we learn about Sylas and his mysterious new benefactor. What we see in Antonio is that he has a reputation as a cruel dude, they said he was ruthless, they said he was crude, and ya know what from everything we see here it’s all that and oh so much more.

I am thoroughly enjoying 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 we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in turning these characters into people that we know, recognise or empathise with. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we’re left in awe by what we see unfolding.

I appreciate the way that we see this being structured as well as how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. It is within these layers that we see the characterisation, plot twists, personal growth and oh so much more and what they add in terms of depth, dimension and complexity is immeasurable. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably done.

These are some absolutely wonderful traditional comic book style artwork here. What really sets this apart though is how we see the syphoning of emotion and the effects that this has is breathtaking. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques to create this attention to detail which we see throughout is stunning. The way we see backgrounds incorporated to enhance and expand the moments. How they also 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 is marvellous. 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 shows a superb understanding for how colour works. I’m really actually chuffed to bits by all the blues that we see and how they veer towards the neon.

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I love the concept of the story and how we are seeing this executed. It has just that right touch of originality and along with how it’s being told we are seeing so much happening that cannot be predicted. This keeps the reader on their toes and you need to pay attention to what you are reading for fear of missing a moment that’s important to the story. With writing and characterisation that can leave you bewitched, bothered and bewildered along with these startlingly beautiful interiors you’ll be captivated by everything within these pages.