The Blue Flame #1

The Blue Flame #1

Vault Comics 2021

Written by Christopher Cantwell

Illustrated by Adam Gorham

Coloured by Kurt Michael Russell

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

THE BLUE FLAME is a cosmic hero. The Blue Flame is a DIY vigilante that fights crime on the streets of Milwaukee. The Blue Flame is a blue collar HVAC repairman named SAM BRAUSAM. In the wake of a horrific tragedy, the boundaries of the Blue Flame’s identity blur even further. Now, before a universal trial, the Blue Flame must prove that humanity is worth saving. But in order to do that, Sam Brausam has to save himself. Can he?

Imagine if you will a group similar to Formerly Known As…. only with a much more serious attitude to it and you’ve got the Night Brigade. This is the group Sam belongs to and it is also where we get to learn a lot about Sam. it is a great way to kind of introduce us to his world and his life and his potential girlfriend as well as serve as the catalyst for what else we see throughout the book. I’m really very impressed with the way we see this being done and how everything is able to tie together to create what we see.

I like the way we see this 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 extremely well. I actually like that we don’t see this told in such a traditional way and instead we start off in what appears to be the present and then backtrack to the events that lead up to this. It doesn’t have a traditional feel but it is a great way to get the reader involved in the story. The character development that we see is fantastic! With the dialogue, character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really flesh them out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, these characters and this world it is so easy to feel comfortable here.

Love seeing how this is being structured and how the layers within the story emerge. This is where we really see the bits and pieces that make up the bigger picture take shape. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is do well achieved.

I love the interiors here and the linework is so clean, crisp and strong and with the varying weights we see such wonderful detail work coming to life. While it would benefit from more backgrounds being utilised what we do see is fantastic. On a side not those boxer briefs are a nice touch and it’d be nice to see more of that. We get some great depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story through how we see the composition within the panels. 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 fabulous! I like how it feels softer and not as saturated as a lot of superhero style book. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rendered extremely well.

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This is more than a pleasant surprise to me and I have to say I was already holding this in higher regards before it came out. That’s what happens when you know it comes from Vault Comics you expect a certain level of quality to the storytelling. This book is so smartly written and beautifully illustrated that it welcomes the reader with open arms making you feel like this world has been around for a lifetime.