The Blue Flame #2

The Blue Flame #2

Vault Comics 2021

Written by Christopher Cantwell

Illustrated by Adam Gorham

Coloured by Kurt Michael Russell

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

The Blue Flame digs deeper into the Tribunal Consensus as he weighs the decision of defending all of humanity before them... but wait, shooting victim Sam Brausam is in a coma in Milwaukee, and his estranged sister doesn’t know if he’ll wake up.

Well this issue takes us some place I hadn’t really expected to go, well actually several places I hadn’t expected to go. I love that too because it means I have to pay attention to what’s happening or else I might miss more clues to different aspects to the story. The opening is great and seeing Dee go about her day with the pregnancy test, going to work and everyone is so wrapped up in what happened to The Night Brigade. I was wondering what was so important that we saw Dee and Mateo in the first issue and opening up this one and I wasn’t expecting it to hit this close to home as it were. I also was thinking that Sam was with the Tribunal Consensus at a different point in time not at the same time which of course gives a whole new meaning to what it is he’s experiencing.

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 leans information is presented exceptionally well. The character development is amazing and this is thanks to the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing is superb and how it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we are drawn further and further in and are in some shock and awe at what we learn.

I am really impressed with the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continuing to grow, evolve, strengthen as well as emerge anew depending on what is happening at any given moment. Christopher is doing a magnificent job with the subtlety and the overt aspects of the storytelling and how we see what he’s doing adding this depth and complexity to the story is sensational. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is beautifully achieved.

The interiors here brilliantly rendered. I love the style we see and the traditional comic book of it all. The linework is strong, clean and crisp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is utterly magnificent. The utilisation of backgrounds throughout not only enhance the moments but how they show the creativity and imagination along with working within the composition of the panels bringing out the depth perception sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is bloody brilliant to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a beautiful eye for how colour can be utilised for maximum affect.

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There is this inherent charm to this book and while overtly we see the consensus as both scary and benevolent the truth may be something else entirely. That I feel as if there are two main arcs running simultaneously adds the enjoyment of the book. It feels like there are so many different things happening within this book and yet nothing feels like it is being rushed, glossed over or thrown in for the sake of it being there. There is a subtle complexity to the book and it ignites the readers own creativity and imagination perfectly. This is so intelligently written and beautifully illustrated so that it takes us places that evokes emotions and feelings you never expect to see and have.