#tkocomics

Goodnight Paradise #1 TKO Studios 2018 Written by Joshua Dysart Illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli Coloured by Giulia Brusco Lettered by Steve Wands       After finding the body of a murdered teenage runaway, a homeless man vows to bring her killer to justice.      So I knew I wanted to read this because well I have been a fan of Joshua’s for ages now. Like I always do I went into this blind, I read nothing about it beforehand. Now I am not sure if the universe is saying something to me or not as I am reading Jesse Kellerman’s The Genius and it’s surprising how similar the stories are. So it really is no wonder why I was engrossed in what was happening and wondering where it was going. We have to get to the end before we really see it but the journey to get there is utterly amazing and the path that Eddie is on is mesmerising.      The way that Joshua is writing this really is worthy of any novel on stands right now. The way we are introduced to the characters and mainly Eddie is bloody brilliant. The story has this whole way of flowing through the pages and acting like real life, which it could have been. I have to admit that Eddie being homeless and let’s say not dealing with a full deck plus all the drinking and lack of hygienic care do make him one of the least likely main characters and yet somehow Joshua makes him endearing. There’s an element here as well that I am not going to go into but I like that it adds a bit more complexity to Eddie and makes us feel for him even more.     I am so incredibly impressed by the people we are introduced to who are a part of Eddie’s life. It is done with that same natural flow that comes with someone going about a daily routine and I have to say I have no idea how Joshua was able to do this, if it’s supposition or research, but it almost feels like the secret lives of the homeless. That it can be this interesting and capture the readers attention, draw them in and make them want to stick around and learn more is what it’s all about. The characterisation here is just flawless and it comes complete with those ticks that people have, more so under these circumstances, which helps to flesh them out more and make them feel like real people to me.      I am hugely impressed with the work that Alberto is doing here. The linework and how it is used through it’s varying weights so we subtle work that creates this beautiful attention to detail is sensational. The way people are seen, with those knotty fingers or emaciated from hunger is scary to see how well it’s done. Giulia too does some of the best work I have seen her do here. I mean the graffiti on the RV for example is super delicate and you almost miss it for dirt. The attention to a drunks nose the gradation that we see and the clothing that just looks like it hasn’t been washed in years she really nails all of this so it looks exemplary. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off this stellar eye for storytelling. The fact that backgrounds are utilised as they are is impressive and really helps the city become as much a character as the people.     The moment that changes Eddie’s life forever and how we see that through the rest of the issue represents some of the strongest writing around. Every action and reaction is meticulously rendered so that we see the beginning of something, what that is we aren’t quite sure but that doesn’t matter because you can feel it coming in your bones. ​     This is a stunningly well written book through it’s story/plot development, characterisation and pacing then putting this quality of interior artwork with it yeah wow TKO (technical knockout) couldn’t be more apropos.