How do you write a good comic in the era of drones, hashtags and kale shakes? Well, if you’re Jordie Bellaire, Vanesa Del Ray and Clayton Cowles then you’re probably going to tackle issues like gender roles, race, religion, family and small-town politics the way they do in Redlands.
Their debut issue is a straight up ride through nostalgia country, tastefully borrowing themes from retro horror novel and films. On its own, some might say, that deserves its merit and your attention, but this isn’t exactly what deserves your admiration. What sets this story apart from other debut issues is the fact that its creators come at you guns blazing, but not at the price of being bombastic, convoluted or rushed. This isn’t a slow burner, but maybe because this story didn’t need to be. We’re given what we need to care about where the story is headed, balanced with a lot of action. At the onset, a group of characters is under siege by supernatural elements and by the end of the book we yearn to know more about the assailants, their ambitions and the fate of other characters in the town. Seems like a winner to me.
I’ll be frank and admit that a part of me was wary of this turning into another zombie tale and I was close to abandoning the book. There are too many zombie-related stories as is, and, in one way or another, those stories have all been told. It’s almost as if some twisted, reality-warping zombification has taken hold of writers’ minds and it’s all that’s on the shelves at your comic shop or TV show playlist. Or maybe I’m just an aging cynic and am disillusioned about the ironclad principle of economics and demand and supply and all that. Entitled rant over, I’ll continue to sing the praises of Redlands and the work of its creative team. I’ve learned over the years that it’s a safe play to not judge a book by its cover, but I tell you, gentle reader, that you’d be exonerated for doing so here. The lush cover art with its serpentine desperation is swollen with the kind of imagery that is ideal for the story within.
Redlands is bold and unpretentious, a feather in the cap of its creative team and another great example of the fine work Image Comics is putting out on the regular. Sure, I would’ve maybe reworked some of the dialogue to make it more lifelike, but I’m just a complainer and not a doer. The tortuous part about having read this book is the ache in waiting for the next issue. Shouldn’t they have made this a mini-series? Either way, it’s a great story and you’ll be glad you picked it up.
TalkingComix 