Pick of the Brown Bag
July 13, 2023
by
Ray Tate
Welcome to another posting of the Pick of the Brown Bag. Well, I've not won the Powerball, so I'm still just trudging along trying to get on with reading comic books.
To be honest, I've actually read a whole clump of new stuff over my short vacation. Most amounted to disappointing mediocrity. Nothing to get pissed off about, and nothing to extol. Except North Valley Grimoire from Whatnot Publishing.
Two issues so far by writer Blake Northcott, artist Guiseppe Cafaro and colorist Bryan Valenza already hit the racks. You can still get in on this book on ground level, and North Valley is worth getting into.
First of all, a wow to the artwork. Guiseppe Cafaro presents exciting illustration that doesn't look like it comes from the cookie cutter of bland.
Kudos also to the colorist who provides the neon styled special effects. After that clutch of timid, boring house rendering, which nearly lulled me to sleep, North Valley Grimoire felt like a splash of cold water to the face.
So what is this book about, without of course giving too much away? The whole world that's reflective of our own reality doesn't know magic exists.
Now, this isn't exactly groundbreaking for anybody that reads urban fantasy. A genre dedicated to seeding magic in large and small ways through worlds that resemble our own. Northcott however focuses on some mostly unexplored territory.
We've got spies using magic. Well, damn. That's interesting. That's novel. Maybe it has been done before in other works, but I don't think I have seen this or heard such before.
For the record, there's a lot more going on than just that. It's bloody mayhem and a big surprising curse that catalyzes the dynamics of the characters.
Bearing that in mind, you still will only get the non-spoiler graphics. These technically should be depictions on the warm side, but there's not a tepid moment in North Valley Grimoire. Even in so-called quiet scenes, Cafaro provides an illusion of animation.
North Valley focuses primarily on Agent Malek who searches for the title book and Calista, a school girl who comes to possess the Grimoire. However, don't think that you can predict what's what and who's who in this story. It's not Bond nor Mulder and Scully. It's not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's not Steed and Peel. It's not Constantine, either.
The tale begins with Malek infiltrating a den of smugglers and thieves, but this is all flashback under his debriefing.
Pay attention to the debriefing. It's not just a narrative device. Sent to investigate the appearance of the Grimoire in of course North Valley, Virginia, Malek makes his presence known at a murder scene.
We then inventively cut to the Hawthorne Academy where Northcott, Cafaro and Valenza introduce Calista.
Calista reveals her relationship with her deceased friend Jackson. The "therapeutic" note that Calista wrote to Jackson served as the segue, but we also get to see Jackson living and breathing in her memory.
Later in the evening, Calista discovers the Grimoire.
Reading the pages, she uncovers some information about Jackson. The revelation makes her consider recruiting a collaborator. Calista meets up with her friend Kaz.
Of course, that fellow in the shadows with the gun isn't there to say hi. In a frenetic display of violence and magical retribution, all glorious hell breaks loose.
The second issue provides the reader with more goodness. We get to know Jackson from his point of view, when alive, in the opening scene.
In the present, Kaz and Calista try to figure out what happened while the authorities cover up the evidence.
Perhaps those authorities include Malek who consults with an old friend to facilitate his investigation.
Notice how Northcott incorporates magic, unusual magic, in the familiar espionage scene.
The confab leads us back to Hawthorne and Calista's arch nemeses. The cheerleading squad.
And again. All these scenes are the quiet ones. There's just oodles of engaging action and twists to be found. Onward and upward to issue three.
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