The Surgeon #3

The Surgeon #3

Unlikely Heroes Studios 2020

Written by John Pence

Illustrated by Stan Yak

Coloured by Pinkk3r

Colour Assists by Rob Cloma

Lettered by Erek Foster

How to Bring Knives to a Gunfight

News doesn't travel as fast as it used to, but out in the South Dakota Black Hills, stories are starting to spread. Stories of the lonesome doctor on the painted Palomino, the healer whose skill with a saber is more legendary than her skill with the scalpel. Stories of the Hot Animal Machine death cult spreading west, into new territories that are unprepared for their savagery. Stories of the peaceful fort of Turtle Island, where the doctor came to work for a spell, and which the Hot Animals decided to attack.

Last anybody heard, the Hot Animals had Turtle Island choked down under siege. That's not good news for anybody, because if Turtle Island can't stop them, nobody can. The good people of the fort are overwhelmed in numbers and by the insanity and violence that has arrived outside their walls. But nobody said Dr. Hanover was "good people."

When things look bleak, heroes arise. And antiheroes sometimes do good despite themselves. Innocent lives hang in the balance. And to survive, they will need to shed some of their innocence.

I really like this series and how we see this told is extremely well rendered. 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 is amazing thanks to how we see the dialogue, narration, the character interaction and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way we’re caught up in the frenzy of violence.

How we see this structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and emerge as new avenues open up is spectacular to see. I am utterly impressed with the amount of characterisation that we see through the violence and action sequences. This adds so much depth and complexity to the story in concert with the main arc and those swirl around it. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is beautifully achieved.

I love the interiors here. The creativity and imagination that is on display is magnificent in the characters and how their visage creates the mood tone and feel of these Hot Animals. The linework is sensational and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is astonishingly well rendered. The way that we see the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is well achieved though I do wish we’d see more utilisation of backgrounds incorporated into the composition of the panels. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a superb eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered as well. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is brilliantly rendered.

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I am super impressed with this series. How we see this amount of characterisation amidst all the chaos is bloody stupendous. Seeing how Hanover is opening herself up and trusting these people is something I hadn’t expected to see and with all that’s going on and her desire to move on may not happen, okay i’m projecting because I want her to realise she wants to stay here where she’s actually found a way to be happy. The writing here is intelligent, witty and comes with some great unexpected moments and to see it wrapped up in these beautiful interiors makes this one of those marvellous indie titles you shouldn’t be missing out on. Unlikely Heroes Studios is home to some stellar storytelling and if you are looking for something to entertain you and thrill you than this is what you’ve been waiting for.