White Sky #2 – Don’t You Want To Be Safe?

The world is haunted, and Violet is alone. White Sky #2 picks up right where the amazing first issue left off. With David captured, Violet steps out cautiously into the world around her, having protected herself from the creatures even David’s captors fear. When Violet hears a voice, she begins to wonder if she’s not alone, or if she’s losing her grip on reality.

Creative Team

Writer: William Harms
Artist: Jean Paul Mavinga
Cover Artist: Jean Paul Mavinga
Color Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Published by Image Comics

Writing

Bill Harms does tension building and payoff as well as anyone around. One of the things that I’ve always enjoyed about Harms writing is that he can do a little bit of it all. He can take the slow burn approach over multiple issues or can ratchet up the tension and resolve it in the same issue.

Harms creates some really important questions early in this issue and, for the most part, answers them by the end of the issue while also building on the overall overarching story. Harms indicated in the writer’s note that White Sky is fundamentally Violet’s story, and that shows very early on in this issue.

The respect this creative team has for each other means that there are times when Harms can step back and let Mavinga tell the story through his art, which is such a breath of fresh air. There are pages with minimal writing or no writing at all, so it helps that Harms does such an amazing job of making each word that is there count. Harms’ words feel dark and foreboding, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the world of White Sky.

Art

JP Mavinga was amazing in White Sky #1, but he surpasses that work in this issue. As I mentioned earlier, it’s clear that Bill Harms has great trust in the teamwork that he and Mavinga have built because there are entire pages where Mavinga becomes the chief storyteller. The shading Mavinga uses from panel to panel really stands out, with some lines feeling collected and small while others are thicker and more prominent.

The quick change in colors and tones always seems to set the mood perfectly. There are some scenes that Mavinga drew that are absolutely terrifying and gritty, while some panels function as jump scares. One of the things I really appreciated about Mavinga’s work in this issue was the use of light sources to affect color tones. Panels that are lit by even candlelight reflect warmer, richer tones, whereas the absence of light isn’t reflected as complete darkness but purplish gray tones.

Final Thoughts

What an amazing follow-up issue to the first issue of White Sky. I love this creative team. It’s amazing to see a creative team where there’s enough trust between the writer and the artist for the writer to give the artist a whole page to work their magic. Both Bill Harms and JP Mavinga stand out in this issue as masterful storytellers within their given mediums. I can’t wait for White Sky #3.

Overall Grade: 10/10

Enjoying White Sky? Check out Shawn’s interview with co-creator and writer of White Sky, Bill Harms