Undiscovered Country #15

Undiscovered Country #15

Image Comics 2019

Written by Scott Snyder & Charles Soule

Illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Leonardo Marcello Grassi

Coloured by Matt Wilson

Lettered by Crank!

"POSSIBILITY," Part Three

As our team sails deeper into the chain of "possibility" islands, they discover a devastating secret.

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed this series as well. I like that I have the time to get back to some of these series. I really like the opening here and this look at the early life of Opiyo, or Ace, and we see how he got the moniker that he goes by. Also it’s a great look at a part of the world, in this case Manila, ten years after the sealing and how that event changed life in places such as this. Once the United States builds the wall and shuts out the rest of the world it has that ripple effect and it’s nice to see these effects. Now Uncle Sam has been ferrying the group to their next stop and this one I like for a myriad of reasons leading up to and including the cliffhanger ending. What we see opens up this realm of possibilities to be explored and if Ace is supposed to write an epic story this is certainly one of those important stops on his journey.

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 presented exceedingly well. 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. This really brings these characters to life beautifully and shows their personalities as they evolve through each new encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we’re really engrossed by these turns of events.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is extremely well rendered. I love that the layers open up these avenues for exploration and while some work with the larger picture others don’t and regardless they all add this sensational 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 is achieved exceptionally well.

The interiors are incredibly solid. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see throughout the book is really rather exceptionally well rendered. The faces and facial structure we see furthers the characterisation extremely well. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work 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 show a solid eye for how colour works and how to apply it for its maximum effect.

​

The more that these United States that are explored the more warped and interesting the book becomes. The sections, factions, zones or however you want to think of them all have these different purposes and filled with both good and bad denizens the fact that this fractured nation is even madder than the Mad Hatter at one of his infamous tea parties. With strong writing and interesting characterisation wrapped up in these incredibly solid interiors and state of the union looks more and more like a possible future than a fictional story.