#IReadsYou Review: SECOND SIGHT #1

SECOND SIGHT No. 1
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: David Hine
ARTIST: Alberto Ponticelli
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Jimmy Betancourt
COVER: Alberto Ponticelli with John Kalisz
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (February 2016)

For mature readers

Second Sight created by David Hine

Chapter 1: “Vision in Red”

Second Sight is a new comic book series created and written by David Hine and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli.  The series focuses on a man who once became a celebrity because of his ability to see through the eyes of psychotic killers... before he was eventually accused of being a killer.

Second Sight #1 (“Vision in Red”) introduces Ray Palmer, owner of “The Bibliomaniac,” a bookstore that focuses on antiquarian and rare second-hand books.  Of late, he is plagued by bad dreams, and now two journalists, interested in his past, have added to Palmer's woes.

Once upon a time, Palmer was renowned psychic, Ray Pilgrim.  Now, that past has returned because of Ray's daughter, Toni.  She is using her blog to dig into a sex scandal involving The Wednesday Club, a rumored, secret club for the powerful.  Something else has also returned, threatening to reopen the darkest period in Ray's life.

I have read very little of David Hine's work, but what I have read I have found to be highly-imaginative and also inventive in a way most mainstream comic books are not.  In 2008, I read his original English language (OEL) manga, Poison Candy (TOKYOPOP), and was quite impressed.  Because of that American manga, I thought that Hine had the potential to be the next “great” British comic book writer in America.

After reading this first issue of Second Sight, I still believe that Hine's potential is largely untapped.  I think Hine's imagination will show itself in this series with stomach-turning aplomb.  Secret societies, child murders, pedophilia, sadism, masochism, serial killers, and some family dysfunction to cleanse the palette – it's almost more than I can digest... almost.

Alberto Ponticelli's twisty drawing style, edgy compositions, and darkly sweet storytelling is perfect for Hine's sweetly dark story.  I don't think that I can wait an entire month for #2...

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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