My friend Rich Perotta has found his calling. People may know Rich from his time with Marvel Comics, but right now he has a great book on Kickstarter and I want to talk about it. So let’s get to it, shall we?
The Book
The Incantesi
Created by Rich Perotta and Sofia Brocani
Written and Illustrated by Rich Perotta
Publisher: Kickstarter
The Incantesi is a beautiful combination of magic and destiny. The story begins with a young dancer named Cassandra who is being drilled about perfect dance form by her Aunt Emilia, who had been a famous dancer before her. Practice gets a touch rebellious and they call it off. Once we get a little TMI about Emilia’s love life, Cassandra and Emilia head home.
At first glance, this is a close relationship between an aunt and her protege/niece. Upon going home, you find out that both of them have some secrets, especially Emilia, who is being told by some ominous voice that Cassandra is ready. Conflict and guilt are warring within Emila, who is asking for time, but this nameless entity insists that they move forward. While they are talking, you get a little glimpse at what Cassandra can do.
Time flies and two weeks later there is a performance about to happen with Cassandra at the forefront. At that moment, the voice(s) strike, taking over bodies and making them into monsters and terrorizing the crowd. Forced into a corner, Cassandra saves people as the stage collapses in on her. She comes to the hospital without a scratch. From there, things just get hairy as the monsters keep coming, wanting Cassandra to free them. Chaos ensues, and Cassandra becomes the Incantesi.
Rich Perotta has crafted a fascinating world. I want to speak about Rich Perotta in two forms, he’s both the writer and the illustrator and I want to focus on those things separately. Rich Perotta gets relationships. He doe a brilliant job of showing Emilia’s and Cassandra’s relationships and their regards for each other. The voice call with Phil is phenomenal. I’ve been part of those conversations in real life and I enjoyed those little interactions.
He succeeds in making Emilia very complicated. You can sense the love she has for Cassandra, but also the guilt in the situation she has put her niece in. It’s not quite revealed what that whole conflict is, but there is plenty to keep you on the hook for what is going to happen next. I also enjoyed the three-dimensional aspects of the wraths – the voices Emilia is talking to. They have their own opinions as to what is happening. Openly talking about killing other lifeforms to survive, and the moral implications of that tell me that the wraths aren’t all bad or all good and there is a lot more to them than being one dimensional bad guys.
As for the art…it’s Rich Perotta. There is unbridled joy in what he draws, whether it’s Cassandra making a face while practicing, to the monsters and the stage in which Cassandra before, there is elegance, terror, and joy in the pages. It’s a magic onto itself. He captures a style that reminds me a bit of Colleen Doran’s Book of Lost Souls and Alan Moore’s and JH Williams Promethea. The colors are subdued and add a little bit of that magical feeling.
This is a start of a great story. You guys should definitely back it. You can do so here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theincantesi/the-incantesi
The Business
I finally changed my official Youtube Channel to Joshua Pantalleresco. You can click here and subscribe to the podcast which just broke 500 episodes. I want to take a moment and thank each and every one of you that have watched or listened to my show in the last five years. Thank you.
As for the show, it continues to keep evolving. You can watch it on my Youtube, or you can watch it live on my Twitch Channel as I’m very nearly an affiliate on the platform. Hit the subscribe or the follow depending on the application you prefer.
Beyond that, look for my next book Light’s Out to be coming out in April or May of this year. Written and illustrated by yours truly. It’s been an experiment, but a good one. This is the most I’ve done on any book and I’m excited to show it all to you.
That’ll do it for this column. Next week we go from Magic to cybernetic angels with possible time travel issues. Until then guys, stay inspired and keep shining in the dark.
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