The Girls of Dimension 13 #2

The Girls of Dimension 13 #2

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Graham Nolan

Illustrated by Bret Blevins

Coloured by Gregory Wright

Lettered by Carlos M. Mangual

The girls go into training under the tutelage of the wizard/dog, Pitch, to master their mystical skills. And not a moment too soon as the mysterious Levi Skeggs and his minions, come gun-ning for the girls to take “the chosen one” to the dimensional demon, Abraxis!

Whereas last issue introduced us to the girls this issue gets into why they’ve been brought together. While Pitch does what he can to get the girls to understand what’s at stake, what he didn’t take into consideration is the bond the girls already have and are building. So while he may be only looking for one girl who shows the most promise the girls will work together so that none of them have to face this madness alone. The whole idea here is fantastic and how it’s being executed is brilliantly done. Part of me feels like this is moving really fast but the reality is that its not it flows as such a wonderful pace.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development we see is fantastic! How we see the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react the situations and circumstances that they encounter really do wonders in fleshing them out. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story as well as the twists & turns along the way help the reader to really become engaged and drawn into the book beautifully.

I am enjoying the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continuing to grow, evolve and strengthen is marvellous to see. These layers are where we see the character personalities start to grow and where the depth and complexity hold their sway. So it’s amazing to see just how well they are being swirled around and through the main arc as effectively as it is. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves everything forward is perfectly well achieved.

The interiors here are amazing. The linework is strong, crisp and clean and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out this level of detail work is astonishing. The creativity and imagination that we see is spectacular and it has to be otherwise the dimensions that they are told about and that we see wouldn’t be nearly as effective. That two-page spread is the perfect example of how good this work is and how it will leave you utterly gobsmacked. I’d like to see more backgrounds in use but it is what it is and that we still get this great depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is beautifully rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we se the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work is extraordinary to see. How the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work makes such an impact on the reader. Also the magic effects that we see in such a neon style makes them pop and works as a light source to change the hues beautifully.

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This is far from you standard fantasy series and that alone is wonderful to see. That it feels so unique and so original means what with every turn of the page it feels like a new adventure awaits. This is so smartly written and so solidly illustrated that it has this retro modern feel to the storytelling which is absolutely amazing to see.