Jennifer Blood #003

Jennifer Blood #003

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Fred Van Lente

Illustrated by Vincenzo Federici

Coloured by Dearbhla Kelly

Lettered by Simon Bowland

The Mafia dons of the criminal-run town of Bountiful have gathered together for their annual Hunt, pitting East Coast mob against West Coast mob to see who can track down the most innocents in an abandoned army base. Except a third player has entered this year's competition: Jennifer Blood, and she plays for keeps! Assassin Giulietta Romeo at last comes face to face with her elusive prey!

Oh this is a delightful twisted turn of events and I have to hand it to Fred for using this in the book this way. I mean there have been a few films dealing with this and those were odd enough but this was an unexpected ploy and it was exceptionally well done. I like how this adds to the whole story the way that it does and that Giulietta sees this potential for exactly what it is. There is some absolutely fabulous writing happening here and it goes so far beyond what is expected and goes right into this realm of the spectacular. I mean it really does go that extra mile in showcasing the proclivities of these mobsters and the kind of lives they lead as well as how when you get way too comfortable with your autonomy you get extremely sloppy.

I am terribly excited by 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 are presented exceptionally well. The character development 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 does a marvellous job with continuing to flesh out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story I have to marvel at the complexity and simplicity of what we see.

I am a huge fan of the way that we see this being structured as well as how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also like the way that we see the layers opening up new avenues to be explored and this adds some excellent 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 are impeccably handled.

I love the interiors here! The linework is extraordinary and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is brilliantly rendered. We do see some nice use of backgrounds, enough so that I wish we’d have seen more, as they enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellous to see. 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 an exceptional eye for how colour works.

​ One of the great things about this book is that Jennifer is the star and we barely see her in these pages. The idea of her, the idea of her presence and the threat she represents is enough to send these mobsters into a tailspin and while they all believe she is dead and this is some sort of copycat and yet it still shakes them to the core. Though Giulietta she’s not afraid though clearly she should be. This has some of the most intriguing and excellent writing and stellar characterisation wrapped up with these amazing interiors making it this thrilling read.