Home Sick Pilots #11
Recap
"The Old James House might turn out to be Ami's only hope...but it's still missing a piece. And if anyone's going to survive, that final ghost must be found."
Review
Writing
I may have been a little harsh on the past few issues of Home Sick Pilots, but man I loved this issue! Tons of imaginative ideas and story points from Dan Watters. Plus, Home Sick Pilots #11 was just a fun read, we finally get the big battle between the Old James House and the mecha Nuclear Bastards. We finally get the full filament of giant ghost powered mech battle and it was worth the wait.
Watters has a ton of imagination, and it bleeds through in Home Sick Pilots #11. From how he details the ghost powering different aspects of the house to the ideas behind it all. Watters adds in that wink and a nudge of how silly all this is as well while also keeping the tone and storytelling serious. For me personally the series needed a little bit of that and Watters delivers it without changing the tone of the story and not keep me invested in all the characters.
Talking about being invested in the characters. I adore what happens in this issue between the band mates of the Home Sick Pilots, we finally get to see that friendship come back into play and the story has been missing that dearly and something I wish we would have got more toward the beginning of the series. The end of the issue is excellent, and I am super excited to see where Watters is taking the story from here.
Art
I have always loved the overall design and visual tone of this series. Caspar Wijngaard colors continue to be stunning and captivating with each and every issue. Wijngaard uses this bright green coloration at the start of the issue that melds wonderfully well with the bright pinks, blues and stunning white that has been present throughout the series.
Home Sick Pilots #11 also opens up with a two-page spread of the inner workings of the Old James House that is vividly detailed by Wijngaard. It is a tremendous piece of work and one of those pages that you can just gaze at for a good long while and find little things that you might have missed at first glance.
Winjgaard plays with the story telling dramatics from visually standpoint splendidly well. The big fight and the inner fight of the characters is all captured wonderfully well in his subtly dynamic art stylings.
Final Thoughts
For me Home Sick Pilots #11 fulfills what this book promised to be. It is a highly fun and imaginative book that is all sorts of goofiness that a plot of giant mech type things powered by ghosts should be. But it also, plays with that serious note as well. The story tone is balances wonderfully well in this issue. It is that high school, punk band, coming of age, power rangers esq book that was promised. It is wholeheartedly serious and dramatic story telling, yet silly and fun all at the same time!
Home Sick Pilots #11: Misfits
- Writing - 8.8/108.8/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 9.2/109.2/10
- Color - 9.5/109.5/10
- Cover Art - 9.5/109.5/10