Step by Bloody Step (2022) by Simon Spurrier & Matias Bergara (Image)

I was immediately sold on this project after hearing the premise. By all accounts, I absolutely should have loved this book...I am sad to say I did not connect with the executed product.
A friend had shared the hype about this book after it first came out. I went to a couple of comic shops and couldn't find the first issue so I anxiously waited for the trade to come out. I saw that it was very well received and garnered a 4.0 on Goodreads, 4.8 on Amazon, and an 9.6 Critic Rating on Comic Book Roundup.

As you can see from my other reviews, I am normally a sucker for repeat collaboration projects. I had not read CODA prior to reading Step by Bloody Step but I have since gone on to read it on Comixology. Similarly, CODA did not resonate with me either. Bergara's art is fantastically beautiful. He excels at alien and elaborate landscapes. However, I felt Spurrier pacing, Bergara's panel progression/transitions, and even Lopes' color palate made for a clunky experience and hindered my ability to become engrossed in the story. SPOILER: Sadly, while reading it through for the first time, I was unable to differentiate one of the key panels in the book and mistook an adult female for a male child. I went back and reread the series and it validated to me that it was a beautiful project but just not wonderfully executed, and as a result, it just seems gimmmicky.

I am a fan of the silent comic gimmick. It can be hard to execute but if done well, it can really pack a punch. My first comic book as a kid was a 1987 silent issue by Larry Hama in GI Joe Yearbook #3 (a call-back/follow-up to his famous silent issue introduction of Storm Shadow in GI Joe #21 in 1984). After reading Step by Bloody Step, I wanted to do a deep-dive on the history of silent comics but found it had already been done. Vincent Pasquill with CBR did an excellent write-up back in 2018 on the history of silent comics entitled "A thousand Words: Silent Superhero Comics, From Steranko to Aja". In his article he covered many of the books I was familiar with and some that I picked up after reading his article. The pizza dog issue in Hawkeye #11 was pure genius and deservedly won Fraction & Aja both the Eisner and Harvey Awards in 2013 for "Best Single Issue". Similarly, the mourning issue by Tomasi & Gleason in Batman & Robin #18 is an excellent example of how use of silent story-telling can really enhance the experience for the reader.

I would like to see more projects like this, but I think this story could have benefitted from some narrative exposition at the beginning of each issue.