Monday Monday #03 A Rivers of London Story

Monday Monday #03 A Rivers of London Story

Titan Comics 2021

Written by Ben Aaronovitch & Andrew Cartmel

Illustrated by José María Beroy

Coloured by Jordi Escuin Llorach

Lettered by Rob Steen

A werewolf is on the loose in London and will stop at nothing to avoid capture!

I am such a huge fan of this franchise and while the wizarding world of Harry Potter made it popular again this is definitely the much better, more integrated franchise that we need. Peter is a great example of a man who wields magic and has all the human flaws that make him such a likeable and relatable character. This is encapsulated when being awoken by his twins and suddenly he’s got bottles ready for them. That’s reactionary and instinctive and doesn’t get showy or flashy, it's just what needs to be done and then what happens next well that’s the detective in him trying to figure a few things out. It is so smartly done and so incredibly interesting in such a mundane manner which is why it works so incredibly well.

I am such 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continue to showcase their ever changing, evolving personalities beautifully. I’m actually very much enjoying the fact that Peter has a new shadow this go round with Billy and while it’s nice that others see Peter’s change and potential and he doesn’t it does make for an interesting partnership. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we just don’t want to see these end.

How this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is really rendered extraordinarily well. What I love about seeing the avenues in the layers opening up is whether they will be explored more fully or not and regardless the amount of depth, dimension and complexity they manage to add to the story is staggering. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am a huge fan and supporter of the interior artwork that we see here. I’ll start right off with saying there shouldn’t be any blank backgrounds after all if we’re going to see as much of the Goblin Market as we do then let that flag fly! Having blank spaces when we’re teased with such beauty is a pet peeve of mine so take that, not the former boy band, for what you will. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail work that we see throughout the issue is simply stunning. The composition within the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story beautifully. 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 show such an understanding of colour and how it should be applied.

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With Billy working with Peter and getting that chance to experience both worlds and how they interact we see this whole new perspective filled with awe, wonder and innocence that keeps the freshness alive in this series. With such intelligent and interesting writing sharp along with a fun but decidedly dry wit, it feel rights in every sense, to the characterisation that’s brought to life so incredibly well this is one of the smartest titles in comics.