Silver City #2

Silver City #2

Aftershock Comics 2021

Written by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs

Illustrated by Luca Merli

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

Ru recalls the horrific truth behind her untimely death. Meanwhile, a group discovery about Junie awakens Ru's sense of justice, sending them all on a dangerous mission, fraught with unknown peril, and some inexplicable new powers.

Alright so I wasn’t expecting to see so much so soon, at least regarding how Ru sees herself die. This was a pretty intense moment and I have to say I was totally unprepared for it, which is probably pretty much exactly what Ru was feeling. I am pretty impressed with how much information is put into this issue and how it feels like it could be a double sized issue even though its a standard page count.

There is so much going on here and it doesn’t feel overwhelming, rushed or pushed upon the reader and that’s because Olivia is crafting one heck of a story here. There are so many moments that you find yourself thinking about and how the contradictions are here in some beautifully thought out ways. With the premise and the only touched upon mythology that surrounds this section of purgatory, let’s face it this is what it appears to be, giving us more to look forward to as the group races against time to save young Junie.

I am really 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, dialogue, character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter continuing to flesh them out as folks we recognise. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story as well as the twists & turns along the way and we find ourselves feeling like a part of the story.

I like how we see this being structured and how the layers continue to emerge, evolve and grow is extremely well rendered. How we see these bits that build trust among the characters and how some strengthen the main arc while others just add more a little more depth and complexity to the story is brilliantly handled. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

These interiors are bloody gorgeous! The linework that we see and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out this level of detail work is stunning to witness. The way we see backgrounds utilised throughout the book is glorious to me as they enhance the moments as well as bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is really magnificent. The creativity and imagination is beautiful and how we see the buildings, the tapestry’s or just the bits here and there that are generally taken for granted but add so much depth to the moments. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellously talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is also bloody brilliant to see. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a master colourist in action. I mean what we see takes the interiors to a level much higher than if it were simply black & white.

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This is a phenomenal story so far and while only two issues in, which is hard to believe honestly, it already has found a way to draw the reader into and making them a part of the story as it engages the mind in some truly wonderful ways. Intelligently written and gorgeously illustrated this is the kind of book I expect from Aftershock as they are home to the future of comics when it comes to epic storytelling.