We’ve been inundated this week with new teases from Image, DC, and Marvel, but hold on to your butts everybody, because First Second has a preview for us (via AV Club) as well: “Battling Boy: The Fall of the House of West.”
Paul Pope’s “Battling Boy” was one of those eye-opening, head exploding comics for me. It was like when I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark or read Gravity’s Rainbow or heard Return to Cookie Mountain for the first time; it hit me with this huge, unexpected emotional and visceral impact. It was undoubtedly the work of a master of the medium, doing his best to tell a giant, fun, colorful, and thrilling story, combining everything he had any modicum of interest in, all in a brilliant package.
Just as exciting was when Pope announced not only would he be continuing the series, but also opening up part of the wider universe as he explored the backstory and character of Aurora West with co-writer JT Petty and Spanish artist David Rubin. The first book in this companion series, “The Rise of Aurora West”, came out this September and traded much of the manic energy of “Battling Boy” for a more intriguing and mysterious narrative as Aurora West tried to figure out who killed her mother (Check out our review over here).
Today, First Second released a short preview of the next book in the “Aurora West” series – “Fall of the House of West” – and it continues with the intrigue and mystery. Be warned that it does contain some major spoilers for the ending of “The Rise of Aurora West”, and please enjoy like we have.
Rubin’s retaining the manga-esque look for the thing and balancing between his own style and the more Paul Pope-y one. I think, even from these three pages, you can tell he’s becoming more confident in sharing Pope’s universe and the movement of the characters and his staging of this scene is getting better and better.
The book doesn’t come out till October 2015, so, you know, there’s a whole ‘nother year to psyche ourselves up for it. But for a series as awesome and fantastic as this, I think it has earned the wait.
