Advance Review: Powers Fearful & Divine #1
Coming soon to Kickstarter from Blue Fox Comics is the first part of a five-issue series.
Under the leadership of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the politically aggressive Spiritualist movement appears to have found the answer to a riddle over a century in the making.
The alternating currents of reason and mysticism collide as the true titans of the twentieth century wage war over the course of history itself. The heart of their conflict: the twisted form of fiction’s greatest, most blasphemous scientist – Victor Frankenstein.
Written by Cy Dethan, art by RHStewart and letters by Nic Wilkinson
What feels like a long time ago, I had the chance to read and review Cancertown, and its sequel, by Cy Dethan. Since then I have met both Cy and letterer Nic Wilkinson at various convention in the UK. Imagine my joy to see their name connected to this excellent project. Their skills, combined with the excellent art by RHStewart make this a great start to a mysterious, thrilling and spellbinding first issue.
This is a story that really builds us up. Working the information into us, we take the same role as Houdini - sceptical and slightly humoured. As the story progresses, there are some points which make everything slot into place. At the moment, we only have half the story - but that side draws us in and look at the potential threat to the world of this comic.
The threat and the scene is well brought out. This is the time of spirits, and a time that has been of interest to many of us - not least because of the character alluded to throughout this story, or to be more precise, because of his creation. I was aware of Doyle's interest in the spirit world, and Houdini's role in trying to quell that. This story takes that interest and moves it to a new level.
The full cast of characters in this story is well introduced - building this story up well. I like the themes its covers and the pace of the story. There are some excellent scenes and some nice artwork building the story.
Nic certainly has her work cut out. There is a lot to letter and a lot to take in. The talk throughout this story works though - not only telling the story, but moving things forward well.
The art is fantastic, and there is a lot of different scenes being shown here - from dark workshops to out in the open. The theatre scenes work well and have some excellent aspects - that big reveal with the jarring colours work really well and add something well. The final page is especially chilling.
This was a thrilling story with a lot of build-up. The themes and cast of characters draw you in and you want to get to the heart of this mystery and conspiracy. The line between this world and the other and fraud and real magic seems awfully thin after reading this.
Powers Fearful & Divine is coming soon to Kickstarter - be sure that I will let you know when it goes live. In the meantime, follow Simon Birks on Kickstarter here to get notified when it goes live.