White #3

White #3

Black Mask Studios

Written by Kwanza Osajyefo

Design by Tiim Smith 3

Pencilled by Jamal Igle

Inks by Juan Castro

Tones by Derwin Roberson

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

X has been sidelined by Juncture after his rash actions cost the team dearly. Meanwhile, the Mann administration is touring the First Son program across the US. Desperate to make amends for his mistake, X takes another gamble that he hopes will save his comrades.

I am really rather enjoying this series a lot more than I had anticipated. Last issue X went and messed things up for the team as his action caused some to get captured. What I find more interesting is that over the course of this issue we see how his instincts and knowledge are vastly underrated and there just might be a lot more to this young man than we have been giving him credit for. If this issue is any indication his instincts are spot on and while it may go against the team leader's wishes he just might have some tactical sense to him after all. That and the fact that he saw something no one else did shouldn’t be overlooked. He’s a bright young man, yes headstrong and self assured but if he can learn to control his temper and mature a bit he’s got the makings of a fine leader himself.

I very much like 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 keeps their personalities at the forefront of the story. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see and learn.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. These layers do wonders opening up avenues to be explored and these 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 immaculately achieved.

The interiors here are bloody brilliant. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail is extraordinary. That the inks are utterly amazing and you’d be hard pressed to realise that a separate person did the pencils and inks. That we see backgrounds utilised as we do makes me a happy camper as they enhance and expand the moments beautifully. 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 masterful eye for storytelling. The tones of gray that we see are expertly applied and really helps to add depth and dimension to the work.

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The story is engaging and at times it made me a little uncomfortable which is something I am sure was done intentionally. After all they call each other nigga way to often and I get the whole reclaiming of the word and turning it from a negative to a positive but the sheer abundance of the word made me uncomfortable. This is also meant to stimulate the mind however and talk about race relations with someone of colour for a better understanding and it works like a charm. With the way this is written and how we see the characterisation and these utterly brilliant interiors you will be engaged and invested in this story like few others can do.