Cutting Edge #02

Cutting Edge #02

Titan Comics 2021

Written by Francesco Dimitri

Illustrated by Mario Alberti

Lettered by Jessica Burton

Translated by Marc Bourbon-Crook

The epic concluding issue! History is changed forever… at the Cutting Edge.

The Dodecathlon continues, but time is running out! The team’s last hope is a lost artifact known only as The Devil’s Mirror.

I get why it’s two oversized issues but that doesn’t make me any less sad that this is all there is. I hope that we are going to see more stories from these two men in the future because they make an absolutely stunning pair of storytellers working together. The story started out as this incredibly interesting and unprecedented tale and it continues that way straight through to the end. I was so engrossed in this and I thought that how we see everything play out the way we did is so god damned astonishingly good that I was completely gutted when it was all over. In some regards I do appreciate that this is a complete story and while the world they live in could be revisited when this was over you got the feeling that it was good and truly over. Again not sure how I feel about that but it certainly stands as a testament to how well this was executed.

I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. With an oversized issue it gives us a chance to really see this play out the way it is intended to and what we see surprises us at every single turn and that’s precisely how it should be. The character development is astounding! We are constantly learning about these character through every challenge and hardship they face as they encounter these situations and circumstances. The pacing is amazing and as it takes us through the pages revealing the complete story it picks us up and sweeps us along like the current in the water only much more gentle.

With how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story both converge and weave in, around and through the main arc i’m astonished that this level of talent hasn’t been seen by more folks. How everything manages to work together to create the story’s ebb & flow is completely and utterly charming as can be.

The interiors here are absolutely glorious to see. How the linework with its varying weights and techniques is utilised to create this level of quality in the detail work that we see makes me so incredibly happy. That backgrounds are utilised as they are throughout to enhance the moments while bringing us this amazing depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book is marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work that we see is divine! How the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is rather quite stunning.

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I am a stalwart fan of Titan Comics and have been since the first time I picked up one of their books. They consistently have some of the most amazing stories that come from the most unusual places to capture the mind, imagination and creativity of the reader. Not to mention that the level and the quality of the storytelling is always as incredible as the writing is. I have been introduced to so many amazing creators, such as these two gentlemen, that I have new creators to follow.