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KISS: Phantom Obsession #02

Dynamite Entertainment

By Steven LeitmanPublished 4 years ago 3 min read

KISS: Phantom Obsession #02

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Ian Edginton

Illustrated by Celor

Coloured by Valentina Pinto

Lettered by Troy Peteri

The band have found themselves wined, dined and detained by the genius Darius Cho! As Cho puts each member through the wringer, a new-found ally may be able to help the Masters of all things Rock and/or Roll get the upper hand on Cho and his army of pop-culture-inspired destruction!

Ian does this utterly magnificent job with this story so far. There are these little moments that might not seem like much but they really add this unexpected depth to those moments. We also learn more about Cho and his plans for the band in this issue and after being stomped on in the last issue it would seem that Cho has them right where he wants them. We’re only in the second issue so we know that’s not really the case but it is still one of the more important moments in this story because it isn’t often that Cho feels he underestimates anyone and here he totally does and it calls his own genius into question, not that he’d ever admit this to himself or aloud. The complexity of the story is already fantastic and it seems that Ian is just getting ready to amp up the volume.

I am very much enjoying 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. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character development as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter is magnificently rendered. I’m really impressed with the characterisation and it really fleshes these personalities beautifully. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we’re brought back to being kids again by the direction the story takes.

The way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is extremely well portrayed. What I like about these layers is that they open up different avenues to be explored and while some will be and others will not be they all add this great 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 extremely well rendered.

I like the interiors here. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail in the work we see throughout is really quite nicely rendered. There is some great creativity and imagination going on within these pages and I have to say that it really does enhance how we see certain aspects of the story. I wish we’d see more backgrounds being utilised as there is a lot of open space that could be utilised to really give us more depth to their surroundings. 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 really strong understanding of how colour works.

This is a great book and it really reminds me of the KISS cartoon that I used to watch when I was a kid. It is exciting, fresh and has this whole kitsch angle that works perfectly with the band and what we’ve come to know and expect. With some solid writing and strong characterisation alongside these really nice interiors bring the story to life sensationally well.

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About the Creator

Steven Leitman

Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.

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