Bloom #3

Bloom #3

Hero Tomorrow Comics 2021

Created, Written, Layouts, Coloured & Lettered by Ted Sikora

Illustrated by Buthc Mapa

The Origin of a Prophet Part III

It was supposed to be a simple photoshoot, but now Ramsey, the comic book artist, and Regina, his body-painted muse, have become hopelessly lost in the forest. Ramsey desperately wants to go home and forget the madness of these past twelve hours, but his surreal and psychedelic muse insists on going ever deeper into the strange!

I know way too many of you are sleeping on Hero Tomorrow Comics and you need to fix that. These books are way too good for you to be missing out on. This arc is all about a comic book creator who in creating a character paints a model with these symbols and unbeknownst to him it imbues Regina with strange and wondrous powers. Personally I also think someone else inhabits her body and takes over her mind in the process as well. See now this is just way too good to pass up because while it is out there there is something to be said about rashly acting on impulse without knowing what the consequences would be. It really engages the reader in some fabulous ways and it will stay with you long after you put the book down.

I love 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 exquisitely well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they behave then act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter. All this really brings new facets of their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we’re so entranced by what’s happening it’s better than an LSD trip.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificently rendered. What I love about the layers here are the new avenues they open up and how we see these and the established ones being explored. With Regina’s new powers emerging along with this new personality we see how this great depth, dimension and complexity is added 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 impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are utterly fantastic. MInd you the duo is lost in the woods during Woodstock so the clothing we see is so retro cool and how we see them dressed is a huge bonus to me. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of the detail work we see throughout the book is completely and utterly fabulous! We see some great use of backgrounds throughout the book and they enhance and expand the moments perfectly. 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 is marvellously rendered. 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 shows a tremendous eye for how colour works.

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This is such a delightful book. How we see the events unfold and as Ramsey begins to realise what is actually occurring his fear starts to rise, and it very well should. There are so many things we see happening in this issue and it does really engage the reader and make you think in ways you might not expect or be prepared for. With such smart, intelligent writing and frighteningly good characterisation wrapped up in these beautiful and charming interiors will decidedly thrill and entertain you.