Kate knows everything; we don't! Clues from the past contain answers to where Kate and company go next. All roads converge, but not everyone survives the trip. Collects SHUTTER #18-22
Holy crap! I did not see that ending coming! Most of the book is Kate meeting and gathering her brothers and sisters to go after Prospero while seeing some of their backstories, but then that end, yeesh. I have no idea where we're headed next.
This is a hidden gem from Image. The storytelling is excellent. The world so imaginative. Del Luca's art is terrific. She has such a vivid imagination to draw all these quirky characters. It's definitely a series everyone should check out.
This is a must read for comic nerds/ if you’re well versed in the different styles this is so fun to pick apart.
Huckleberry is a great love interest with a very chic scarecrow design. Chapter 19 telling the stories of 3 children from the father’s perspective is beautiful, looks just so nice and crisp on the page and really nails home the missing dad story at the heart of all this. The tintin pages are so good. Cassius is going to be the game changer, he’s so slick and so tough (for a talking cat clock). The dad popping up on the final page of the epilogue means that last trade is going to be a wild ride.
4 ⭐ So far, this has been the best book in the series! As the book description states, Kate knows everything - we don't. But even with so much left unsaid and much of Prospero's plan and the Kristopher's family history still a mystery, this book has seemed to be the most concise, focused chapter of the series. There is a lot of character development, not just for Kate but for Kalliyan, Chris Jr. and The Leopard in Chapter 19 (which was so carefully and creatively written having 3 character's stories/perspectives being drawn simultaneously parallel to one another in different shades of coloring - I loved this!). Kates discovery across the lake was also a highlight of the book. And the ending... OOF! What a crazy ending!! This has me excited to read the final chapters of this ambitious story!
"Kate knows everything; we don't!" screams the tagline of this volume, efficiently highlighting my largest problem with this series.
I want to be clear, I don't mind not knowing everything about this universe or its characters. Going through a very in-depth history wouldn't be interesting to most readers, and would take up a lot of space where our otherwise fast-moving plot would like to be. My concern is that we aren't getting it not because it's long and unwieldy, but because it's poorly built or incoherent.
Kate's overview of the Christophers features gorgeous interludes of her relationship with Huckleberry that I greatly enjoyed, but coming out of that section with every character saying, "Yes, right, that totally makes sense," without any reveal to the reader implies that perhaps the universe, and the overarching plot, has too many holes to make sense. By denying readers these details, I can't determine whether this omission is a legitimate choice - a product of moving too fast.
It's clear the book doesn't care about these concerns, and that's ultimately okay. I am fascinated by the art, loved the style in which backgrounds on 3 select siblings were done, and the ending scenes were brutal and bold. I'll keep reading for sure.
Shutter continues to be a highly underrated series among Image's impressive back catalog. And with this volume, Joe Keating and Lelia De Luca continues to push story and art boundaries. This is particularly apparent in the three intertwining stories of three different characters as well as backstories created through different art styles (mostly European in tradition, Baba comes to mind with some of the styles as Tin Tin.) It also helps that this elevates the story which has some great twists and revelations.
All Roads is the first volume of Shutter where I felt like I fully understood what was going on. Volume 4 takes a step back to make sense of the chaos and confusion of the first 3. There is finally real character development, as the backstories of the core characters are revealed.
I think you could call this the Empire Strikes Back of the series; there's a sequence that is very reminiscent of moments in the movie. This volume is all about Kate revealing the overall story to all the relevant parties, and taking the first steps on the road to her goals. The climax is all the description says it will be - not everyone survives. It's nice to get so much of the overall story laid out, and there are some fun sequences, especially flashbacks for Kate and Huckleberry. The art is interesting, with some unique styles breaking up the more traditional look. I'm glad I had Volume 5 on hand to immediately continue, because the last few pages must have been a horrible tease for loose issue readers.
This volume was the best yet. The main story between the two secret societies that have been plaguing Kate and her siblings is being revealed, and the story definitely has a destination.
That being said.....THAT ENDING!!!!!! OMFGosh!!!! (see spoilers down below) I don't even know how to process the fact that I only have one final volume to read!
V této fázi si už nejsem jist jestli tajemství a zdánlivě velké zvraty jsou produktem dobře promyšleného designu, nebo se do toho autor vrhl a vymýšlí je za pochodu. Tak jako tak to ale zatím funguje a tento díl za mě krásně vrcholí.
Jediné, co mě celou dobu štve je "scénáristicky kolísavá síla" jednotlivých postav - prostě v jednu chvíli někdo dostane strašně na zadek a druhou je naprostý krutor a naopak. Diktované nikoliv vývojem postav, ale jak příběh potřebuje.
Oof, okay. I'm not sure if I thought this was genuinely better than previous issues or just took a different, but this volume definitely hit harder. The development still felt a bit slow and disjointed for a while, but once it picked up, it really picked up. Storyline is still a bit confusing/seemingly intentionally vague, but it's taken turns I genuinely didn't expect and I'm looking forward to the next volume.
So there was that. It's hard to be super into this series because there's nothing to hold onto. Every time there's something that make sense in this book, the next volume tears that idea apart. I mostly just keep coming back to try and figure out these endings. I don't know it's just a bit much. The only real positive thing I can think of is that I'm glad Cassius is back.
Leila Del Luca's art just keeps getting better. Enough to compensate for the times Keatinge's writing sucks.
I'm really not happy with that ending though, and it's not because it was shocking or horrific. It was just so much built up without anything panning out. I won't spoil it here though.
Reread this so I could review the finer details before moving onto the finale volume. Whether I like where it went or not, the storyline always fucks me up in the best way. So much love and so much death. One of the better graphic novels of this time.
It was interesting to get more background on the side characters, but man this volume just landed flat for me. The ending feels like a cheap attempt at shock value. Hopefully vol 5 makes up for it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It's a shame that I don't remember what happened in Volume 3 (read too much other stuff since). Katheryn has gathered the siblings together to decide how to deal with Prospero. There's a brief look into the past and plans for the future. A confrontation with Prospero completes the book with unexpected results and consequences which will no doubt appear in the next volume.
Some of the work is drawn is the Belgian-school style of Tintin which makes a nice change but all the artwork is nicely-executed. The story is engaging and interesting and there's more to come. Hopefully I'll remember enough of the plot to appreciate it.
The Kristopher siblings, together at last, round up allies for an assault on the secret rulers of the world. It's not that I don't like the conspiracy plot, but the more breezy aspects of the flashbacks here (the Tintin-style ligne claire stuff, and especially Kate's romance with the wonderful Huckleberry, who is essentially Tyranny Rex's aw-shucks cowgirl cousin) do make me long for the straightforward adventure story we could have had, set in this world of wonders, never looking so far beneath the gorgeous variety of its surface.
Oh man, shit is going down! Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca continue to knock it out of the park on this series, and there was even a ligne claire issue!