Comic Review: Excellence #5

Excellence #5

Image Comics

Writer: Brandon Thomas

Artists: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez

Spencer Dales continues to rise through the ranks of the Aegis whilst breaking every rule needed to accomplish his goal even though he’s not really sure what that actually is just yet.

After their violent combat, Aaron remains under arrest while Spencer is staying at his grandmother’s place in order to avoid conflict with his father. Spencer is still to witness Aaron’s past memories and they’re starting to bother. So he sets off decided to recover Aaron’s wand so he can undo their disturbing mental connection. Meanwhile, Spencer’s father, Raymond, has put a tail on his son, Monique, and has broken the rules of the Aegis.

Brandon Thomas conducts the story as well as he has ever since issue #1. Spencer’s narration serves a lot more to expose his feelings and indecisions than the elements of the plot itself. What impresses me the most is how he is able to make Spencer sound as resolute as he is angry and stupid. It reflects incredibly well, of course, when most of Spencer’s plans go awry.

One flaw I noticed was the fact that there was another Aegis vault’s infiltration yet we don’t get to see any of it until its climax. It may be because nothing happened until then or just because it was just like the last one. Anyhow it felt weird, although being consistent with the non-linear storytelling adopter ever since the first chapter.

Khary Randolph’s traces are as beautiful as ever. Not only her facial expressions remains the best I’ve seen in comics to this date, capturing varied nuances in simples expression lines but her anatomy is also on point. Her action scenes are exciting, relying on speed lines as well as on drawing the characters differently as the movement progresses. The panels for this chapter were quite the ride. Ranging from diagonally displayed to reflect the falling of a character to overlapping elements from panel to panel which gave fluidity to the scene. To complement Randolph’s gorgeous and unique style, Emilio Lopez’s colors are the choice. His representation of glow is mesmerizingly realistic, giving the exact intensity and power the magic being used in the scene radiates dragging the reader inside that tension and conflict.

Excellence continues to amaze this reviewer. Every chapter takes an unexpected turn and develops its characters a little more. I can’t wait to see where the plot is heading and I’m pretty confident is going to be excellent.

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