Echolands #2

Echolands #2

Image Comics 2021

Written by J.H. Williams & W. Haden Blackman

Illustrated by J.H. Williams

Coloured by Dave Stewart

Lettered by Todd Klein

THE MAJOR IMAGE COMICS EVENT OF 2021 CONTINUES…

Hope Redhood and her companions, Cor, Caniff, Castrum, Dena, Rabbit, and Rosa, are on the run from the Wizard, Teros Demond, and his terrifying daughter. Why is the Wizard willing to kill to regain his stolen gem? Can Hope and her crew escape the strange robots lurking in the tunnels beneath San Francisco? And will they survive a betrayal by the pirate captain, Bloody Gums?

I love this book and that’s because it does alter history by adding different races and forming something of a Dungeons & Dragons feel which I personally really appreciate and enjoy. That they are almost like a family unit who squabbles and fights yet ultimately has each other's backs regardless of personal opinions is something that is so gosh darn impressive to see coming through as it does. The writing here is truly exceptional and how we see the interactions between characters, their motivations and where their minds are is something that we don’t see portrayed a lot and to see it done on this level is amazingly well rendered.

I am 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 is presented exquisitely. 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 as it brings their personalities to the forefront exceptionally well. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, more about the characters and it draws us into this even more.

I am in love with how we see this being structured and this includes the way that the pages are laid out. If this was done any other way it wouldn’t work in quite the same way because it really ties into how the story is able to be told. The avenues that we see explored through the layers add such 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 is immaculately achieved.

The interiors here are bloody mindbogglingly brilliant! How we see the linework and its varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this extraordinary level & quality of detail within the work is barely describable in an accurate way. How we see the backgrounds utilised as if they are another character and how they expand and enhance the moments are utterly brilliant to see. 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 a masters eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination that we see is off the bloody charts. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant master colourist at work. That we see such an understanding of how colour works, what it is capable of doing as in creating the mood, tone and feel as well as just the way we see it’s applications makes all the difference in the emotions we get from the story.

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Life isn’t easy, in fact it is damn hard with one goal after another to be reached all the while trying to provide yourself with a living and then facing all the obstacles and hazards in your way show that nothing worth having comes easy. This group for all their squabbling is a fine example of a chosen family and even with all the death and destruction there’s something comforting about that. With some of the most mindbogglingly bloody brilliant writing and artwork this really is the kind of storytelling that fast becomes the epic you need to read.