Wicked Things #1 from BOOM Box ushers in the return of Charlotte Grote, a character who occasionally appeared in Bad Machinery, also from creator John Allison.
John Allison (Bad Machinery, Steeple, Giant Days) and Max Sarin (Giant Days) present Charlotte, who is traveling (pre-Covid-19) to London to attend a National Solver Award weekend. While staying at the swanky Savoy Hotel, Charlotte meets her fellow nominated teen mystery solvers. They’re a decidedly self-important bunch, all conniving and self-congratulating. And then, among the cognoscenti, disaster strikes.
It’s a really good read. Allison’s dialogue is witty beyond anything else I currently review in comics. The nasty, double-entendre, sly comments, and conversations. The way the scenes unfold and unravel. The beats pauses and twists; it’s like theatre, but where everyone knows their lines and no one in the audience is coughing.
Max Sarin is a master of physical character expression. Like an animation artist (or even better), Sarin can find the action line of a figure, and just push it a little bit further, capturing the heart and volume of the gesture. It’s again, ‘theatre’ in drawing, scene by scene. This Finnish artist is one of my current favourites for their ability to move the story along delightfully, adding whimsy and exaggeration to the fun.
Colour is by Whitney Cogar, (Adventure Time, Lumberjanes) based in Savannah, Georgia. Cogar brings a full palette of gorgeous colour choices, some of which might not seem like they would work, but do. Cogar also plays that colour card with a lot of subtlety, bringing environments into nice support of the characters. Very fine work!
Wicked Things #1, BOOM Box, #3.99 for 24 pages of content. Assume Teen