Packs Of The Lowcountry #1

By John Dudley, Don Cardenas, Kelly Fitzpatrick

“I turn to Helena expecting a well-earned cussin’…but she’s all soldier. In fact she’s…wow.”

Something fantastic is happening while these words are being spoken during one of this issue’s best scenes. Something…wow.

Writer John Dudley puts you right in the center of it all right from the get-go. The world is in a hard place, what with all the monsters roaming around destroying everything, but there is hope! Hope’s name is…okay there’s more than one hope, but the main name of hope is Bastion Conroy (adopted son of General Conroy). Dudley might place you right into the action, well actually you’re placed into a plane, but then you literally jump right into the action (don’t worry you’re wearing a parachute). There are tidbits to some of the backstory and a mysterious character named Gills might be hiding something, creating a feeling of suspense throughout the story.

The artist on this series is Don Cardenas along with colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick. Together the two create some great panels — and some pretty intense ones come the ending. A great panel packed with detail comes from the scene where Conroy is jumping out of the plane. You see the perspective as if someone behind him, giving the feeling you’ve jumped too (hope you’re not afraid of heights). Cardenas creates the landscape below as lush and beautiful, but also fast approaching (pull the cord!). Fitzpatrick’s colors on this panel create a realistic scene, only adding to the intensity of the fall. This panel marks Conroy’s first time outside the wall as well as the readers. Are you ready?

This story is filled with plenty of action and suspense as well as layers of mysteries. What’s with Helena? How can she…? And what’s the story with Gills? Also…how are they going to get out of the mess they find themselves in at this issues end?!