Blue Estate #8
Created by Viktor Kalvachev and Kosta Yanev
Script by Andrew Osborne
Art by Viktor Kalvachev, Nathan Fox, Toby Cypress, Andrew Robinson, Peter Nguyen
Cover by Viktor Kalvachev
Image Comics
Release Date: December 14, 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

As a reader of Blue Estate from the start I have seen this series develop piece after piece of an intricate puzzle, and Blue Estate #8 is no exception. As the body count grows in Blue Estate, so do the stakes. Blue Estate #8 puts a price on the head of just about everyone in it and leaves you as the reader feeling that no one is safe. This issue has significantly less action than previous installments, but provides groundwork for the inevitable crime spree that is sure to come.

Scriptwriter Andrew Osborne again crafts a story that at some points is brimming with witty dialogue while at other points is close to boiling over with menace. Osborne is able to create dialogue from every perspective in Blue Estate. It could be two petty thugs talking over coffee or two crime lords in a sauna, the dialogue and banter in Blue Estate #8 is spot on. The creative team of Viktor Kalvachev, Andrew Osborne, and Kosta Yanev has found a voice in every one of their characters and captured their personalities. Each conversation is dripping with the inevitable, as the Hollywood starlet Rachel calls her brother you know she does not believe it when she tells him everything will be okay. Having a story packed with so many characters and finding believable personalities for each one is a mammoth task, yet the creative team behind this issue has done it in a way that makes Blue Estate #8 a marvel of modern pulp story telling.

Blue Estate #8 supports a enormous number of artists, giving each one a panel or set of pages to define their style. The self-defined shifts in style again set the tone for this issue as we are taken on a tour of Los Angeles’ darker parts. The artwork of Nathan Fox and Toby Cypress crams the reader into crowded backseats and offices with such attention to detail that you almost gag on the smoke in the air. Each scene is illustrated with so much tension that turning each page felt like defusing a bomb. It is a testament to the art direction of Kalvachev when after going through Blue Estate #8 again you begin to notice that each artist is assigned a specific tone that he must draw. As tempers rise, lines begin to shake and become more fluid, almost as if capturing the unsteady temperaments of Blue Estates rogues gallery. On the other hand as scenes unfold heavy with emotional stability the art style levels out and leans towards the hyper realistic. The finished product is nothing short of perfection as the reader is taken on a visual rollercoaster that is not only visually stunning but sets the tone for the entire series.

Blue Estate #8 is a point in the Blue Estate saga that represents the fact that there is no turning back. As treaties are made and trust is broken, as the reader we can only hold on accept the fact that we can also not turn back now. No matter the outcome, and no matter how much blood is shed, with Blue Estate‘s stunning design and writing it demands to be read from start to finish.