Minvera's Map: The Key To A Perfect Apocalypse #2

Minerva’s Map: The Key To A Perfect Apocalypse #2

Lev Gleason-New Friday 2021

By Stefan Tosheff

Lettered by Andrew Thomas

The acclaimed series continues! Join the adventure, solve the mystery, save the world! Easy enough.

I am really digging this book already and there are some great twists and turns that we encounter here that we weren’t expecting to see and it’s rather glorious to experience. The opening here however is where things get interesting and start off this whole slew of madness that’s to come. I love the idea of these artifacts granting the user some sort of ability and it really reminds of Warehouse 13 in some aspects and I am totally digging that. I wish they would’ve used artefacts to fight crime or something that would’ve been amazing. The brothers however are a far cry from being considered good guys and their use of these artefacts well lets just say they think these will make them powerful. It does exactly what it should do too and that’s get the reader excited for what we’re going to see and it does it extremely well too.

I am loving 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances really do wonders to flesh these folks out as people we might know exceedingly well. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story as well as how it bring us these twists & turns showcases some stellar writing.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen while also still emerging are really well done. These layers contain the great little tidbits where we see great characterisation and the introduction of new avenues, ideas and characters all of which in their own way either impact the main arc or swirl around giving the reader something to think about. How everything is working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

The interiors here are utterly marvellous. The linework is great and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is sensationally rendered. The facial expressions and body language that we see further the characterisation beautifully and really make a great impact upon the reader. We do see some great utilisation of backgrounds throughout the book and how they work within the composition of the panels bring us some great depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is stupendous stuff. 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 colour work is beautifully rendered as well. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is laid down gorgeously. I mean between the colour blocking and gradation how we see the colours blending and the hues and tones it just creates this sensational finish to flesh tones or creating depth and dimension in clothing.

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This is a delightfully different and interesting story that almost feels familiar and yet it’s totally its own entity. It has all the feel of a supernatural whodunit and yet it’s a great action/adventure story at the same time. It encompasses so many different aspects that we recognise but the setting in which they appear makes them feel unique. This is a smart, intelligent story with some great unexpected moments that make it a true stand out feature!