I Breathed A Body #4

I Breathed A Body #4

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Zac Thompson

Illustrated by Andy MacDonald

Coloured by Triona Farrell

Lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

More determined than ever, Anne risks her life and soul to perform a dangerous ritual that will change the world. So begins the final livestream, broadcast to every single one of Mylo’s 400 million subscribers: This is not a dream, not a dream, we’re using the bacterial cultures in your body as an electrical receiver. You must heed our next words very carefully…

This has to be one of the most Alice nose dived through the looking glass tripping on acid stories that I’ve ever read. I mean seriously half the time i’m never quite sure what the heck is going on but i’m thoroughly entertained and I have this huge desire to know what is going on. The idea of these growths and plants and forming a new body or altering the body as it stands is simultaneously both fascinating and frightening. There is a great dynamic here between all the characters we’re seeing and how social media influencers seem to be able to do whatever they want in an unregulated manner.

I am 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 nicely. The character development is interesting and to see how the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter along with the dialogue and character interactions really do help to flesh them out even further. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story and the dilemmas the characters face we get caught up in those actions supremely well.

I am loving the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continuing to grow, evolve and strengthen. There is something magical about the craziness that is this story and how it manages to engage the reader and ignite the creativity and imagination. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved beautifully. It is crazy and interesting with the bizarre and obvious all shoved into a blender that poured over ice makes this simply amazing.

The interiors here are reazy good. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques that are being utilised to create this sensational detail work. I would like to see more backgrounds and I know its not always possible and with how we see the composition within the panels as they bring us this depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The creativity and imagination on display is creepy and gorgeous and add into the mix the colours which add so much texture and flavour to what we see in that and it brings this rich fullness that’s incredible. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is absolutely gorgeous. The way we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work demonstrates this amazing eye for colour and how to best utilise it.

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Sometimes the best books are the ones you don’t fully understand and once it’s over comes that moment of clarification and it all clicks and makes sense. This to me is going to be one of those and in the meantime the social commentary on modern life and doing it for the likes, which I detest by the way, as well as pushing the envelop of what’s possible feels like something that shouldn’t be possible but it could be a reality before you even realise it. This is smart, intelligently written with some of the most stunning interiors that will captivate you and give you flashbacks to any drug you’ve ever taken and some you haven’t.