A review by bbpettry
Redlands Volume 1 by Vanesa Del Rey, Jordie Bellaire, Tom King (Forward)

5.0

Issue #1 of Redlands ends with a remark from the three artists responsible for it, as they let their precious catharsis out into the world: “It should offer respite and serve as an emotional occult heavy buffet that delivers the fun, the crazed, the demonic, the sexy, the heartbreaking and the human.” Their hope for Redlands’ effect on a reader is spot on. The story juts and writhes through the swamps of Florida, and you are turning the pages in trance as Alice, Bridget, and Ro (the coven) show you all of the ways in which they are not to be trifled with. What stands out more than any of the witchy violence (though the witchy violence is standing out and on fire and incredibly satisfying, let me tell you) is how everything in the town and the story hinges on relationships - not one of which is simple. Each character introduced triggers a new hair to stand up on the back of your neck - because from the first issue we know to ask, “Who else is this person? What did they do to who and why?” The readers’ questions are soothed and stoked by evidence collected at the end of most of the chapters - savory if unorthodox breadcrumbs, ranging from the classic newspaper clippings to a young girl’s heart-wrenching and frenetic journal to infographics on how to field dress a deer. Much like the coven in their story, the creators of Redlands are powerful - they have rules, but those are their own. Not for you to know, and not for us to understand - yet.