White Ash Season 2 #1

White Ash Season 2 #1

Scout Comics 2021

Written by Charlie Stickney

Illustrated & Lettered by Conor Hughes

Coloured by Fin Cramb

Welcome back to White Ash, a small smudge of a town in western Pennsylvania, where mining is a generational calling, and the secrets are buried deeper than the coal in the mountain. And the biggest of those secrets is that elves and dwarves live hidden among the town's population. Two months have passed since the dramatic conclusion of the first season. Alex, fresh off finding out he comes from a family of dwarves, plans a secret romantic rendezvous in the woods with Lillian the elf... or not so secret, as their meeting is witnessed by a young couple with dire results.

I like this series a lot. It has this feel like you’d find in Riverdale but with a much more interesting and diverse set of characters. By this I mean the small soap opera town full of secrets, lies and tons of machinations from those with money and influence. At its centre there’s a forbidden romance, kind of like Romeo & Juliet but without the death, and altogether it really manages to create this small mining town where you want to go. It is charming, endearing and full of drama and horror and all plays beautifully off each other.

I’m a huge fan of 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 are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in continuing to flesh out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing the story we’re caught up in the events we see.

I am very much liking the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I am also liking the way that the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored and boy are there a number of avenues to be explored here! What this does is add tons of 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 are impeccably rendered.

The interiors here are fantastic. There is this really strong comic book style artwork within these pages and where it shines is how we see the creativity and imagination in the characters, the species and such. The lizard man for instance or how we see those creatures in the wild are perfect examples though I do wish we’d have seen more of Aleck at the lake. How we see backgrounds being utilised as they enhance and expand the moments as well as how they 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 is marvellous to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a great understanding of how colour works.

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Now if you didn’t read the first arc don’t worry because this is completely new reader friendly and what you missed is easy to pick up on through their conversations and dialogue. I highly suggest that you pick this up and give it a go. It'll surprise you with how clever and interesting the story is thanks to its smart, intelligent writing with strong characterisation and these utterly fantastic interiors.