Derelict. Book 1: Deluge. Ben Fleuter

A very engaging and enjoyable dystopian science fiction comic. The earth had become hostile to human life, the survivors have been driven off the land onto floating cities. On land strange creatures, misamics rule, creatures of the dangerous fog. Dang Thu Mai is a human scavenger, sailing alone along the coasts and retrieving what she can. She encounters severe trouble and later finds a deserted ship that contains a lot of unexpected information.
Ben Fleuter has created a credible world full of unexpected dangers with wonderful confidence. The silent pages reflects the isolation of Dang Thu Mai she sails her ship on her salvage. The hard work and the megre rewards matched with great risks are displayed with care and detail. The reader is drawn deeply into the world and the struggle for living before the action starts to kick off. When it does it is sharp and fast, the lonely life of a scavenger makes Dang Thu Mai a target for others who see her as an opportunity to scavenge themselves.  Dang Thu Mai responds to the problems in a way that clearly establishes her determination and willingness to defend what she owns.  Another encounter shows just how many creatures now inhabit the earth, before the story shifts a gear with the discovery of the human exploration ship and the assault on a major misamic location.
The art is lovely, the destabilised world littered with the remains of technology and the bones of the hums who used it are provided without ever crowding out the cast or the action. The details show the world and free the cast from the need to tell, the action reveals the story in a very natural way. The cast are very expressive, they are individual and full of personality. The leads and the walk on parts are all given an opportunity to register with the reader and narrative never falters.
The colouring is superb, it catches the mood of the story and gives depth and clarity to the cast and the context. The lettering is clear and easy to read.
Dystopian science fiction has a difficult balance to achieve, the problem has to be big enough to threaten everyone, the survivors have to adapt and still want to reclaim what was lost and the will to struggle. If there is no hope there is no story, if there is no serious struggle there is no drama, Ben Fleuter has managed the balance very well. The problems and difficulties are immense and the personal cost is significant, the will to live shines strongly and that drives the story and hooks the reader in a most enjoyable way.

The Sword Interval: Volume 1. Ben Fleuter (Writer and Artist), Natasha Tara Petrovic (Flat Colours & Book Layout) LINE Webtoon (2017)

A very enjoyable and entertaining set up for a smart supernatural story about a monster hunter who is searching for the undead warlock who killed her parents.Fell Barros arrives in the town of Titanfolly and encounters David Shimizu a retired monster hunter who wants nothing to do with the spate of missing people in the town. Fell is really interested and starts to investigate and finds herself pulled into trouble. The story unfurls very nicely, genre staples are used carefully and shaken up equally nicely, the reveals are very well staged and the layers of the story are cleverly set up so that by the end the story possibilities are enticing.
Ben Fleuter has used a classic story framework, a woman on a personal mission of vengeance is assisted by a powerful agency that has an interest in her quarry and perhaps an undeclared interest in the woman as well. The woman is aided by another who has enough experience to sense the hidden currents and still has a commitment to helping the woman. The story possibilities are huge and Ben Fleuter has the talent to exploit them.
Giving the framework a supernatural element is great dimension, it creates a range of possibilities that Ben Fleuter takes full advantage of. From the opening episode to the steady unfurling of the background that brought Fell Barros to begin her hunt, the supernatural element is integral to the story. It is not used to solve difficult plot points, it is the context that binds all the layers of the story together.
Fell Barros is a great character, she is full of angry energy and focus, what she does not have is enough experience to survive without assistance. David Shimizu is a genre staple, the overly experienced hunter dragged back into the game to protect someone else. Instead of being a walking cliché, he has a nice humanity and a wary appreciation of the scale of the risks that Fell does not see. Pairing an inexperienced female with a much more experienced male always runs the risk of diminishing the female role, Ben Flueter sidesteps this problem very nicely, Fell gets to establish herself before and after she meets David, she is clearly the lead character, this will be her story. She will be standing , learning and fighting for herself.
The villains are great, from the cause of the problems in Titanfolly to the Atlas agency and the Hierophant they are substantial threats to Fell and David. they have mixed motives and agendas which make them hard to deal with and are very determined to achieve their goals. The struggles that Fell has are consequential, she is never given an easy way out, to win she has to be willing to fight hard and not back down.
The total mix makes The Sword Interval a very engaging read, Ben Fleuter has great confidence in his story telling and is willing to take the time to set up events with sufficient detail that when the action arrives it has a genuine impact. The complicated backstory that brings Fell to Titanfolly is really delivered.
The art is friendly and moves naturally from action to conversation, the supernatural creatures are given a life and energy that makes them both otherworldly and ferocious. One of the substantial pleasures of the book is that Fell looks like a female human, fit and strong with exaggeration, she as well as the rest of the cast are expressive and move naturally in their context. The low key colouring by Natasha Tara Petrovic is perfect for the tone of the story, matching the matter of fact presence of the supernatural in the world.
The Sword Interval Volume 1 solves the problems of a set up with confidence and clever detail, the story possibilities opened in a very inviting way and I look forward to the road ahead.