Sundowners #1

by Tim Seeley, Jim Terry & Sean Dove

Tim Seeley has put together some very interesting books in the past few years, and Revival continues to be a highly recommended series. Now, Seeley teams with Jim Terry to bring his latest tale to the public. Sundowners, which is quickly increasing its charm as a term for masked vigilantes, opens with a very curious first issue that seeds some solid ideas and includes a good bit of world building.

The book runs in essentially four major pieces, one of which functions more as a handoff from the second piece to the final. In its opening pages, readers are walked through a narration about a character who goes by The Pigeon as it discusses her final night in costume before she turns towards something else. Matched with some strange imagery that could hint at the occult or other types of dark magic, the act is short lived. It is effective in setting a few things in motion and looms in the background of the rest of the issue. Quickly, though readers are transitioned into another storyline where they meet David Shrejic. Seemingly a frequent flyer of support groups, Shrejic feels like a schemer and Seeley, with great assistance from the art team of Terry and Sean Dove create a vibe that this guy is shifty. It takes only a few panels to convince readers to proceed with caution.

Shrejic has created a number of support groups after having attended so many himself. He fancies himself a good listener and is more than energized about his new found purpose. This may well be true, but Seeley’s writing and accompanying art send a different message. Shrejic scurries along to his next group, and it is there that readers meet the man on the cover of the issue and learn a bit more about its title. Sundowners Support Group is held by Shrejic for vigilantes who suffer from, as he coins it, “Sundown Syndrome.” It is a clever tool and not one that feels familiar at all. Seeley, at that point, has the reader’s attention as, in this day and age, it is pretty understandable that such individuals may seek out some type of meeting arrangement to deal with the scenarios they find themselves in nightly. The series has its angle at that point and could probably function as a series of one-shots featuring the tales and demons that these individuals may face. But Seeley is not done just yet, and the book has even more to say.

In the final act, the story shifts again and readers get a bit more of the world that these individuals are left to face. It is not quite clear if the crime fighters have any powers, but there is certainly some dark power in the world. Seeley does not quite come back to the opening sequence, though some elements do relate in the final act. There are a number of threads already and, in some ways, Seeley offers so many interesting pieces that it is hard to know where the book may go.

A bit disjointed in the opening issue, Sundowners has a lot to offer. Terry and Dove do a good job with the pacing and layouts of the story, and have some solid character designs. The tone of the issue, established in the color palette and design, does not feel like a modern crime fighting book, and it adds yet another dimension to the series. While it may not be clear what to expect from the series on the whole just yet, Seeley and Terry have certainly opened quite well.