From IDW comes Amber Blake #1, the story of a survivor.
Written by Jade Lagardère and illustrated by Butch Guice, the comic is a translation of the original French language miniseries, printed in 2017.
Amber is abandoned as a young girl and finds her way into the Cleverland Institute for gifted children. There, she blossoms, until it’s revealed that there are sinister and dangerous happenings at the Institute. How will Amber cope with confrontations and threats? Will her high intelligence keep her out of trouble or get her into MORE trouble as she pokes around, investigating?
Amber Blake is drawn in a highly realistic, high contrast style. In fact, Amber as an adult resembles the author, Jade Lagardère, a former model. The figures and expressions are accurate, the visuals almost breathtaking. Guice has obviously taken care to research the French surroundings of the story.
The story is a compelling one, and we care for Amber right from the beginning of the comic book. Having said that, it reads a bit flat, and some scenes could have been eliminated or condensed without harming the narrative. The fact that the book is translated from French might have a bit to do with the flow of dialogue being stiff here and there. But that’s minor stuff. The book is solid.
Without giving away more of the story, I recommend this comic to mature readers of Avengers, X-Men and James Bond material…
IDW, Amber Blake #1, $3.99 for 27 pages of content. Mature readers.
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