BlackBox Comics 2019 –On Sale August 21st 2019
Written by Kevin Grevioux
Illustrated by Jonathan Lau
Coloured by Adriano Augusto
Lettered by Dezi Sienty
After a former FBI agent becomes a therapist, he has a hard time staying out of his patients lives, taking on their problems as his own. FBI calls him back in for a special case that requires his unique skill-set.
I had seen BlackBox being offered somewhere and thought wow that looks interesting so I contacted them and asked if I could work with them. I am so very glad that I did too because this right here is interesting, it’s well done and it has the kind of story and storytelling that should make headlines at comic shops and sites. The opening is interesting and does precisely what it’s supposed to do and that’s grab the readers’ attention making them intrigued as to what this is about and get them to read further.
I am enjoying the way that this book is structured and how we start off with narration of the main character as we get a clue as to what he does and that leads into that event in his life that led him to where he is currently. Wow you want to talk about some pretty powerful stuff too I mean what we see and what they see is something that should absolutely never happen and it’s heartbreaking, disturbing and not to mention it’s what can cause someone to grow up and become somebody they never wanted to be but history has a way of repeating itself and this this is the kind of stuff that can scar you for life no matter how much you’d want otherwise.
I am not so sure if there is a better example of irony than what we see when Dr. Priete, Donovan, at his job and learning what it is he does. My god the writing here is so phenomenally good and the way the story unfolds before us with all these layers, twists and turns that Kevin kept me guessing the entire issue as to what was truly going on here. The fact that I was wrong at every turn and how we see things playing out keeps me thinking what the hell is really going on here. So many possibilities and so many different behind the scenes manipulations going on here but the real question is who’s using who?
Jonathan is an amazing artist and I have loved seeing his work over at Dynamite and it’s nice to see someone else snatch him up to use. His linework is so incredibly delightful and how we manages to utilise the varying weights to create this bloody marvellous attention to detail makes me so very happy. I will say it’s too bad that Donovan was wearing shorts and didn’t have hair on his body, I mean not even a happy trail sigh. Still here’s hoping we’ll see more of him like this because it’s high time rolls were reversed. I love the imagination and creativity that we see here as Jonathan creates the look of the buildings, apartments, offices and outfits. The colour work is just as amazing and to see it used to stretch a shirt so we can see the musculature underneath is spectacular. There are plenty of moments when colour is utilised to not only show a light source but to complete the facial structures and it’s truly impressive to see this. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling.
I always say that you need to branch out and find books that are “off the beaten path” as it were and this is the reason why. The writing is executed strongly and the overall feeling the reader is going to get is sensational. Combine that with the interiors and ya know what you will be telling all your friends about this series because it’s that damn good.
