Radiant Comics

I’m sick this week and wasn’t able to get to the comics shop. First time that’s happened in a long time.

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

”Who is Jake Ellis?” by Nathan Edmondson and Tonci Zonjic

It was the art in the ads by Tonci Zonjic that got me interested in this comic. I missed it when it was on the stands but my local comic shop got a copy of the collected volume in. I picked it up on a week when there wasn’t much else for me at the shop. It was a good call.

”Who is Jake Ellis?” is a bit of an espionage story. From the title I suspected it would be a sort of Jason Bourne, amnesia, spy story but it wasn’t quite that. The title character, Jake Ellis, is actually a ghost of sorts. The lead character’s name is Jon Moore and he used to be a CIA analyst. That was until he was taken by people unknown and experimented on for unknown reasons. He woke up in captivity one day and could see and hear Jake Ellis. No one else could. Jake helped Jon escape the facility and has helped him for the last four years live a life on the run in Europe. That’s where the story starts out and then the two decide to track down those responsible for their situation and get some answers.

It’s a well done book. It’s written like a fast paced action movie as the lead character moves from scene to scene. Jake Ellis is able to see more than a normal person can so he can give Jon Moore direction on immediate action. Go here, do this, turn right, turn left, duck, and run. It works well as a storytelling device and kept things moving. The dialogue is mostly in service to the plot but was good.

The art really shines in this book. Zonjic keeps things simple and uses a lot of shapes to define things. He is an excellent storyteller, creates a believable world, and keeps the flow of the story going nicely. His art reminds me of Dave Mazzucchelli’s stuff. The coloring was also very good. A lot of monochrome was used to set a night time mood and then full bright color in the daylight. My description over-simplifies the color but I am just trying to point out that they were trying to do something with color rather than using standard illustrative color.

Overall I’m happy with this book. It was nicely done. It wasn’t earth shattering but it was thought out and well put together but people who obviously cared. After having tried a lot of new comics lately that seemed haphazardly thrown together it was nice to read one that is well crafted. Give it a read.