Nights #19 // Review
Keisha’s playing practicing with a soccer ball in the rain. At night. There are a lot of questions. Keisha wants to know what it’s like being a vampire. He’s wants to show Keisha something with the soccer ball...which inadvertently leads to blood...which leads to a hunger...a hunger that is contained when a stranger shows-up in Nights #19. Writer Wyatt Kennedy continues an appealing series with artist Luigi Forisano and colorist Francesco Segala. Horror fantasy tropes slide around page and panel as things progress. For the most part, none of it would feel particularly engaging were it not for the fact that Kennedy and company do such agood job of making the ensemble of characters appealing.
Her name is Eda Sanguero. She’s been searchig for VIncent for some time. She asks him where Gray is. Gray is elsewhere...she’s really, really happy to see Vince. Eda is happy to see the both of them as well. Eda’s there for a reason that becomes apparent once she has produced a sword. Vince and the rest of the world can not never know peace. Grayson Brown has led a cursed life. Eda means to end it. She’s going to get more than a bit of resistence on this from both Gray AND Vince.
Kennedy he is working with elements that have been explored pretty extensively elsewhere before. The real appeal of this particular series is the characters themselves. The characters themselves are really interesting people. Kennedy does a good job of tapping into the emotional gravity of the characters in a way that makes some of the weaker elements of applaud more or less irrelevant. The bottom line is it's really cool to hang out with these characters. And it's kind of difficult not to care about them.
The action rushes across the page with amplified emotion. It's a delicate balance, but it all feels remarkably up for something that has this much action. It's all quite dynamic action as well. The swiftness with which things move across the page is really impressive and enough to overcome any plot details that might otherwise be kind of tedious. The color palette that Segala is working with has quite a bit of style to it. There were some more straightforward decisions that could have been made with respect to the color. The choices that ended up getting made with the color really amp-up the stylish mood of the issue.
And don’t ignore the back cover. There are a couple of notes there that add to the experience of hte issue. The back cover cautions that the issue is best read after dark. And there’s an original soundtrack as well including songs from some diverse artsts...Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Jodie Foester, Nine Inch Nails. It’s a fun addition to an already fun series that they think to add this into the mix of the series. The reader doesn’t have to get deeper into the mood of the sereis to enjoy it, but it’s cool that there are little additions like that for those who might be interested.
