White Lily #4

White Lily #4

Red5 Comics 2021

Created & Written by Preston Poulter

Pencilled by Lovalle Davis

Inked by Walden Wong & Diana Greenhaigh

Coloured by Alonso Espinoza

Lettered by Taylor Esposito

Love and Loss on the Eastern Front

White Lily was the aviator call sign of the deadliest female fighter pilot who ever lived, Lydia Litvyak, who is pictured on the cover. This is the fourth issue in the series. Lydia must mourn the dead of a loved one before preparing for Kursk, the last significant battle on the eastern front.

This series just keeps taking these wild and dramatic turns just as you think things are on the upswing Preston decides that it is time to shake the whole thing up. This is a blend of fact and fiction, mainly because we don’t know the exact details of what is happening just that these events did occur. So it is up to Preston to fill in the gaps the best way he can and I’m hoping that the there was enough in the research to give the direction he needed to bring this to us the way he has. There is something about these women that I do so admire and yet they fail to get the recognition they deserve for the kind of service they’ve done.

I am loving 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 is outrageously good. How we see the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react the situations and circumstances they encounter continue to flesh them out in some of the most realistic ways you are going to see. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the page revealing more and more of the story as well as the twists & turns along the way we laugh and cry right alongside Lydia.

I really am enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers with in the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. This is where the important bits are that add a lot of complexity and depth to the story and the characters. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well how it moves the story forward is achieved beautifully.

The interiors here are absolutely stunning. The linework is gorgeous and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level of detail in the work is absolutely mesmerising. The creativity and imagination are off the hook as the planes and the gear that we see is rendered perfectly. How we see backgrounds being utilised and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring us the depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is amazing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels is genius level work and shows such a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is divine. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is absolutely stunning. The skies with the reds, purples and all the shades they create is simply beautiful to behold. This is the work of a master colourist who understands how colour works and how best to utilise it.

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There are so many wonderful, sad, thrilling and daring exploits that happen within these pages. The writing that we see with it’s beautiful complexity and depth of character that goes hand-in-hand with these perfectly rendered interiors is why I believe that Red5 Comics is the best overlooked publishing house out there today. You need to pay attention to these folks because this level and quality of work is so consistent and so amazing that you are missing out on some of today's best told tales.