Telepaths #3

Telepaths #3

AWA Upshot Studios 2021

Written by J. Michael Stracznski

Illustrated by Steve Eptin

Coloured by Brian Reber

An electromagnetic disturbance results in the sudden awakening of telepathic powers in a tenth of the Earth's population. In the moments after the world comes to grip with this development, newly-telepathic Boston police find themselves sent against a wrongly convicted prisoner who becomes a hero and leader of other telepaths trying to escape a world in which their powers will make them targets. Both are heroes of their own story, and the future may depend on whether or not trust can be found between them

I think one of the more interesting aspects of this book isn’t the fact that they’ve got telepathic abilities, but that those run the gamut from telekinesis, pyrokinesis and other mind based abilities and how quickly certain folks are able to learn to use them so quickly. Those who are used to fighting day in and day out seem to embrace and utilise these abilities a lot more quickly than those who have led more complacent lives. This is extremely well demonstrated by those who broke out of prison compared to those who live softer cushier lives, the general public, and the cops have the ability to learn out of reaction rather offensively but will be quick to pick up the pace once things get really underway. It is an observation on my part and perhaps I’m misjudging what we see but that I'm this engaged and invested should tell you about how strong the writing here is.

I’m a 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 exceedingly well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter keeps their personalities ever evolving. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we are caught up in the newly emerging status quo.

I’m pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, evolve, grow and strengthen. I like how we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how they add such 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 are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are utterly spectacular. The linework is clean, crisp and strong while the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to create this level & quality in the detail of the work we see throughout is amazingly well rendered. For the most part we see some great use of backgrounds, though more wouldn’t hurt, as they enhance and expand the moments they also work well within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. 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 extraordinary eye for how colour works and how to maximise its effects.

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There’s a heavy social commentary that I see within these pages and I’m enjoying the implications it has on our lives in the real world and in the book. I’m really impressed with the near instantaneous divide between those with and those without abilities taking shape, I mean just look at graybeard for example. With some exceptionally strong writing and interesting and complex characterisation alongside these dynamic interiors and we’ve got the closest we’re going to get at an honest look at what happens when part of the human population gets an evolutionary upgrade.