We Don't Kill Spiders #2

We Don’t Kill Spiders #2

Black Caravan/Scout Comics 2021

Written & Illustrated by Joseph Schmalke

Colour Assists by Alyssa Slobodzian

Lettered by DC Hopkins

In the early Viking age, a witch and a Viking detective must work together to solve a serial murder. While investigating a crime scene, Revna the witch has mistakenly summoned a demon named Moccus and awoke something deadly under the village. Bjorn, the Norseman detective, learns the truth about the village's curse. Surrounded by death, they are in for the fight of their lives.

The opening here is spectacular. Revna and her first meeting with the Forgotten God and how she is set upon the path that Bjorn will cross. I like the way that this path the two of them are on will have long lasting effects, that is should they both survive this harrowing tale. I love the revelations that we see really take the story in different directions that I hadn’t seen happening and I love that Joseph is able to surprise us this way and keep us on our toes. There is also a more subtle lesson here as well that falls in line with “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and it really is something to take to heart. How we see this represented here as well with Bjorn being the voice of reason as well as the one you don’t want to mess with.

I am enjoying 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 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 really does manage to shine a great spotlight on their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we are pulled into this in ways that you wouldn’t expect to happen.

I really 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. The layers open up these avenues to be explored and while we see some already being explored and others may be while others yet still won’t be, they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am a big fan of anyone who can bring their own story to life through words and visuals as we see Joseph doing here. The linework is strong, clean and crisp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to bring out the detail within the work is extremely nice to see. I do wish backgrounds were more prevalent throughout the story but that being said how we see the composition within the panels bringing out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is fabulous. 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 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.

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I’m really loving the idea of this story as a Viking and a Witch have to work together to save each other, in ways neither of them know right now, and find out who is responsible for the recent rash of events that plagued the town. Sometimes it is the most unlikely of pairs that turn out to be the most fascinating and heartening friendships that we end up seeing come to life.