Tragedy #1

Tragedy #1

Philbo Entertainment 2021

Created & Written by Phillip Russertt

Illustrated by Ricardo Silva

Coloured by Sigmund Torre

Colour Assists by Takako Sono

Lettered by D. Jason Meadows

Tragedy is a tale of a young Irish assassin fighting her inner demons while doing battle against the rival mobs.

I was sent this one with a request for a review and this is one of the perks of doing what I do because with Kickstarter and Indiegogo it is hard to find or know about many of these self or small press published books. It is also what I miss about the larger conventions that have these creators boothing a table and having a chance to pick the books up in person. I found myself super intrigued by this book, so much so that pretty quickly I was engaged and became invested in what was going on. That we enter this issue in what feels like a program already in progress, it raises questions and all the right ones to boot and I think Phillip made a wise decision in how he decided to introduce us to the characters and the story.

I am very much 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 exceptionally well presented. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in bringing these characters to life. The snippets of back story also helps to bring Tragedy’s personality out further. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing the characters, the story and this world they inhabit the more intrigued we become.

I am liking how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. That we do see a number of arcs going on simultaneously to introduce different factions within the story is handled very well. It has a nice rhythm to how it is being done so that nothing feels rushed, out of place or glossed over. I do like how we see the extra depth, dimension and complexity that is added through these layers as well. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is extremely well achieved.

I am extremely impressed with the interiors here. The linework is smooth, clean, crisp and sharp and with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail we see within the work is magnificently rendered. How we see backgrounds utilised throughout really do expand and enhance the moments beautifully. How they work within the composition of the panels brings out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story very well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective within the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. I really am truly impressed with the level & quality of the work that I am seeing here, it kind of surpasses some of the high brow stylised work we see elsewhere. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a solid eye for how colour works. How light sources are utilised and how they change colours in what we see is beautifully shown and I’m really quite gobsmacked by what we see.

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I wish I’d gotten in on the Kickstarter because I’d love a physical copy of this. If it comes across this spectacular digitally I can only imagine what it looks like on paper. This is smartly and intelligently written and has some interesting characterisation that's wrapped up in these dynamic interiors. This is a great first, introductory issue and it makes me want to see, know and learn more.