A Thing Called Truth #1

A Thing Called Truth #1

Image Comics 2021

Written & Lettered by Iolanda Zanfardino

Illustrated by Elisa Romboli

A workaholic scientist who wants to save the world and a woman who fears nothing but discovering her own destiny find themselves mixed up in a chaotic, on-the-road adventure through Europe.

Will they manage to find a middle ground between their opposing ways of life—at least for long enough to complete their mission? And could this trip lead to an unexpected romance?

I have to say that the opening here got me, it sucked me in and made me an instant fan of the book. I mean c’mon here’s a young woman who has a major breakthrough in medical science and is gung-ho to change the world. Suddenly her life is turned upside down and she finds herself on the run with someone she’s never met. With that being said, how could you not want to know more? We’ve seen films and television programs dealing with similar subject matter and it always entertains us in some great ways. This story is no different and is as entertaining as all get out. For an introductory issue this does a nice job in wetting the appetite to learn more about Magdalene.

I am rather enjoying 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 extremely 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 which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the characters, the story and the world they live in makes me wish to see so much more.

I’m pretty impressed with the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge, grow and evolve. I am liking how we see the layers open up avenues to be explored and how these avenues add such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How Magdalene’s story begins and her treatment by those who wish to remain in power through their own hubris think they can control things. This is how you add intrigue and complexity. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are extremely well achieved.

The interiors here are charming and endearing. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and along with its varying weights and techniques we see the detail within the work being brought out. The style is very much a classic comic book style and for this story that works exceptionally well. We see some fair amount of backgrounds being utilised throughout the book and they do wonders to enhance and expand the moments. 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 an extremely 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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This is a nice introductory issue that ticks off a bunch of boxes in terms of piquing the interest, setting up the story, introducing characters and the complete and total upheaval of one woman’s life. So with that upheaval a mild mannered extremely predictable young woman suddenly finds herself doing things and going places that make no sense to her ordinarily structured life and I cannot wait to see where it’s going to go from here. With some absolutely delightful writing and characterisation wrapped up in these charming interiors I think this one is definitely worth checking out.