The All Nighter #1
ComiXology Originals 2021
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Illustrated by Jason Loo
Coloured by Paris Alleyne
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
Alex is bored--flipping burgers for strangers all night is no way for a vampire to live. But he and his fellow vampires Joy, Cynthia, and Ian have agreed to blend into human society. Inspired by superhero movies, one of few passions in his un-life, Alex decides to don a cape and start fighting bad guys. But his decision will have bigger consequences than he realizes—for himself and for everyone he wants to protect.
Well this is an absolutely delightful book. I mean the opening is a bit chaotic as it establishes the characters and their frustrations at the predicament they find themselves in. It cannot be easy to be a vampire who doesn’t hunt and lives with their own kind running a night time only diner while masquerading as normal humans, of which one has Xeroderma Pigmentosum meaning she can’t handle daylight. Herein lies the dilemma because staying in one place too long draws attention to the fact that they don’t age. So how do you fight off the boredom of being the undead and flipping burgers while trying to blend in? You take inspiration from superhero films and become one to let off a bunch of steam, that’s how. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
I am very much 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 that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter brings their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is excellent and as it introduces us to these characters, this world and the story the more we are drawn into their plight.
I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge, grow and evolve. Over a short span of pages we see some expert craftsmanship of the story and how the avenues the layers open up add such great depth, dimension 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 impeccably rendered.
The stylised nature of the interiors really lends itself to how well it brings these characters to life. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to create the detail we see within the work is extremely well rendered. I’m pretty impressed with the way we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book to enhance and expand the moments. 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. 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 great understanding of how colour works.
There are some great points introduced and left for exploration later as the story unfolds is what I’m guessing. It is just enough to get us even more intrigued to want to know the answers so that this ensures we’ll be back to learn those and so much more. I like the way that this unfolds and how there’s a logical train of thought to seeing the events come about and even up to the ending and unless I miss my guess this new character is one we see a bit earlier and this monkey wrench in the clocktower is where things begin to go wrong, I can only hope but we’ll have to wait till next issue to see. With an amazing concept, intelligent writing and dynamic characterisation wrapped up in these beautifully stylised interiors this idea could become your new favourite.
About the Creator
Steven Leitman
Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.
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