Teenage heartthrob. Feral social icon. Dinosaur hunter? Raised on an uncharted island full of prehistoric dangers, Kevin Sauvage has a taste of home when a mutant dino threat invades England! He’s back in Savage #1.
One of the first things I noticed about Savage #1, and it’s an easily overlooked detail honestly, was the layout of the opening page by Travis Escarfullery, the Director of Design & Production for Valiant. The recap/introduction page is designed to look like a social media feed but it was the legal jargon included as a part of the page design rather than as a lined-off segment underneath the comic’s introduction. It was subtle, and probably not something that a lot of people will notice, but it’s an immersive touch right from the get go that shows how Kevin Sauvage’s life has changed since we saw him land in London four years ago. As you’d expect, less time has passed for Kevin than for us, but in the intervening weeks and months, he’s become a media darling because of his experiences.
Savage #1, written by Max Bemis, has a different feel to it than the original miniseries – which is to be expected given the character is no longer on the time-displaced island he grew up on – as we see Kevin attempt to adjust to his new situation. Although there’s the obvious fish-out-of-water scenario here, Bemis avoids the initial introduction by skipping ahead which I think works in the story’s favour as the character’s first steps on the adjustment from Savage to Kevin Sauvage isn’t the specific focus of the comic, allowing Bemis to instead focus on the character’s new sense of isolation and discomfort as he navigates the civilized world. It’s a lot like the Tarzan books after he returns from the jungle rather than as he returns; never comfortable with civilization, but somewhat used to it.
Nathan Stockman‘s art is a far cry from the style of Lewis Larosa and Clayton Henry, the artists who worked on the original miniseries, but no less enjoyable. While his inks are heavier, his style is well suited to the confines of London rather than the freedom of the island – whether intentional or not. The violence and energy in the opening pages is stunted as we switch to London, but Stockman keeps it interesting by playing with his layouts until the island is seen again (this may sound like a bad thing given my choice of words, but I’m actually impressed how mundane the city scenes feel after the opening pages without ever feeling boring). Savage #1 is a book that’s grown on me from my first reading in black and white several months ago, and part of that is how Trionna Farrell brings the book to life with the colouring.
The first time I read Savage #1, while I enjoyed it, it was far from a comic I was looking forward to going back to – but having done so (twice now), Bemis’ story is growing on me and I have a genuine appreciation for how Stockman and Farrell are working together – over the course of three readings, I’ve found myself upping the final score by a solid point and change. Savage #1 may not be the best comic you’ll read, but there’s something glorious about a man fighting dinosaurs with a little knife that just has me grinning from ear to ear. It’s a bloody comic at times, and I love it.
For those not keeping up on Valiant Entertainment’s books, seeing a character like Savage might be a bit of a confusing thing. Many readers of the 90s were familiar with when then-Valiant had the Turok license and paired him with some of their big guns and even gave him his own ongoing. Those days are gone and Turok is doing just about nothing of note but Savage #1 is picking right up as Valiant’s newest dinosaur hunter series.
If you didn’t read the mini-series that spawned Savage, a bit of a recap: a world-famous soccer player and his pregnant wife disappear while in flight. They land on a strange island populated with dinosaurs. The wife gives birth but the child is more-or-less raised in a wild, violent environment known as the Faraway, where time bends back on itself and all manner of creature roam. After a big throwdown with the human scum of the island, Savage is portaled to current day England.
Savage #1 is the newest mini-series and sees what’s happened to Savage since he just showed up. He’s a teen sensation thrust into the limelight – limelight he may not necessarily want. In short time, dinosaurs and other creatures are let loose and Savage does what he does best – he goes to war with them, only to be captured by those that set them free in the first place.
I was really skeptical of this first issue. I think the first Savage series was pretty good and it honed something that a lot of us fans of Valiant thought was missing. I was a huge Turok fan and while he’s not Turok, he’s an awesome equivalent to what we once had. But when the writer of that previous mini, B. Clay Moore, was not returning, nor were the art team of Lewis Larosa and Clayton Henry, it just felt like nothing about a new Savage series would be anywhere near entertaining. I can say that I’m a bit wrong in that regard.
I’m only familiar with Max Bemis from when he was writing Moon Knight for Marvel, which I enjoyed. Here, he takes a fish out of water story and puts him back into something primordial. I don’t want to give away too much but this was a bloodbath of a book, action-packed and overall, really awesome. It reminds me that Valiant can have a character like this again, one that’s got a familiar presence while at the same time, being a newer character free of years of continuity.
Nathan Stockman, Triona Farrell, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou aren’t going to stack up to Larosa and Henry but that’s okay. Really, any book with dinos should be done by Larosa. It’s a rule. But on a serious note, the art team opens with a rad fight scene and closes with some rather creative fighting. From a visual standpoint, this issue is as action-packed as any previous issue of Savage. While I would prefer a bit more detail, I really can’t complain about the art. The visuals are wild.
Savage #1ends up as the blood-and-guts battle royale book that I desperately needed. I’m glad that this is finally seeing the light of day, as I am sure this was probably supposed to have been released last year and should have finished by now. And for older Valiant fans, it’s okay to like this. Turok will never return to Valiant and with a character as wild as Savage, they’d never need him back in the first place.
Written by MAX BEMIS Art by NATHAN STOCKMAN Colors by TRIONA FARRELL Letters by HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU Cover A by MARCUS TO Cover Bby CHRISTIAN WARD 1:20 Cover by STACEY LEE Preorder Variant Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI Blank Variant Also Available On Sale February 17th | 32 pages, full color | $3.99 US | T+
From the mad minds of international superstar Max Bemis and powerhouse artist Nathan Stockman comes the craziest action book of 2021.
Teenage heartthrob. Feral social icon. Dinosaur hunter? Raised on an uncharted island full of prehistoric dangers, Kevin Sauvage has a taste of home when a mutant dino threat invades England!
Savage #1 debuts on February 17 from writer Max Bemis, artist Nathan Stockman, colorist Triona Farrell, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Published by Valiant, it’s one of the anticipated debuts for 2021. The first issue features covers by Marcus To, Christian Ward, and Stacey Lee.
Teenage heartthrob. Feral social icon. Dinosaur hunter? Born and raised on an uncharted island full of prehistoric dangers, Kevin Sauvage has a taste of home when a mutant dino threat invades England!
What’s that about mutant dinos!? To celebrate the carnage, Valiant is releasing “Creature Feature” variants.
Savage #1: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Savage #2: David Lopez
Savage #3: Paco Diaz
Savage #4: Peach Momoko
Series Editor Heather Antos had this to say:
“Man vs. Beast” is a tale as old as humanity itself – and it’s time to celebrate the beasts of the Faraway in the “Creature Feature” pre-order variant bundle for SAVAGE. Debuting four exclusive and brand-new creature designs by series artist Nate Stockman, artists Giuseppe Camuncoli, Paco Diaz, Peach Momoko, and David Lopez each face-off their skills to tackle these ferocious beasts. As for an added bonus: each of these covers will feature bonus insert bestiary guides that will only be available here!
You can see all for “Creature Feature” variants below with the exclusive debut of issues #3 and #4 by Paco Diaz and Peach Momoko!
2020 definitely felt like a year where I embraced comics in all their different formats and genres from the convenient, satisfying graphic novella to the series of loosely connected and curated one shots and even the door stopper of an omnibus/hardcover or that charming webcomic that comes out one or twice a week on Instagram. This was partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down comics’ traditional direct market for a bit so I started reviewing webcomics, trade paperbacks, graphic novels and nonfiction even after this supply chain re-opened. I also co-hosted and edited two seasons of a podcast about indie comics where we basically read either a trade every week for discussion, and that definitely meant spending more time with that format. However, floppy fans should still be happy because I do have a traditional ongoing series on my list as well as some minis.
Without further ado, here are my favorite comics of 2020.
10. Marvels Snapshots (Marvel)
Curated by original Marvels writer Kurt Busiek and with cover art by original Marvels artist Alex Ross, Marvels Snapshots collects seven perspectives on on the “major” events of the Marvel Universe from the perspectives of ordinary people from The Golden Age of the 1940s to 2006’s Civil War. It’s cool to get a more character-driven and human POV on the ol’ corporate IP toy box from Alan Brennert and Jerry Ordway exploring Namor the Submariner’s PTSD to Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, and Benjamin Dewey showing the real reason behind Johnny Storm’s airhead celebrity act. There’s also Mark Russell and Ramon Perez’s take on the classic Captain America “Madbomb” storyline, Barbara Kesel’s and Staz Johnson’s sweet, Bronze Age-era romance between two first responders as the Avengers battle a threat against the city, and Saladin Ahmed and Ryan Kelly add nuance to the superhuman Civil War by showing how the Registration Act affects a Cape-Killer agent as well as a young elemental protector of Toledo, Ohio, who just wants to help his community and do things like purify water. However, the main reason Marvels Snapshots made my “favorite” list was Jay Edidin and Tom Reilly‘s character-defining work showing the pre-X-Men life of Cyclops as he struggles with orphan life, is inspired by heroes like Reed Richards, and lays the groundwork for the strategist, leader, and even revolutionary that appears in later comics.
Fangs is cartoonist Sarah Andersen’s entry into the Gothic romance genre and was a light, funny, and occasionally sexy series that got me through a difficult year. Simply put, it follows the relationship of a vampire named Elsie and a werewolf named Jimmy, both how they met and their life together. Andersen plays with vampire and werewolf fiction tropes and sets up humorous situations like a date night featuring a bloody rare steak and a glass of blood instead of wine, Jimmy having an unspoken animosity against mail carriers, and just generally working around things like lycanthropy every 28 days and an aversion to sunlight. As well as being hilarious and cute, Fangs shows Sarah Andersen leveling up as an artist as she works with deep blacks, different eye shapes and textures, and more detailed backgrounds to match the tone of her story while not skimping on the relatable content that made Sarah’s Scribbles an online phenomenon.
I really got into Vault Comics this year. (I retroactively make These Savage Shores my favorite comic of 2019.) As far as prose, I mainly read SF, and Vault nicely fills that niche in the comics landscape and features talented, idiosyncratic creative teams. Heavy is no exception as Max Bemis, Eryk Donovan, and Cris Peter tell the story of Bill, who was gunned down by some mobsters, and now is separated from his wife in a place called “The Wait” where he has to set right enough multiversal wrongs via violence to be reunited with her in Heaven. This series is a glorious grab bag of hyperviolence, psychological examinations of toxic masculinity, and moral philosophy. Heavy also has a filthy and non-heteronormative sense of humor. Donovan and Peter bring a high level of chaotic energy to the book’s visuals and are game for both tenderhearted flashbacks as well as brawls with literal cum monsters. In addition to all this, Bemis and Donovan aren’t afraid to play with and deconstruct their series’ premise, which is what makes Heavy my ongoing monthly comic.
Writer/artist Katie Skelly puts her own spin on the true crime genre inMaids, a highly stylized account of Christine and Lea Papin murdering their employers in France during the 1930s. Skelly’s linework and eye popping colors expertly convey the trauma and isolation that the Papins go through as they are at the beck and call of the family they work almost 24/7. Flashbacks add depth and context to Christine and Lea’s characters and provide fuel to the fire of the class warfare that they end up engaging in. Skelly’s simple, yet iconic approach character design really allowed me to connect with the Papins and empathize with them during the build-up from a new job to murder and mayhem. Maids is truly a showcase for a gifted cartoonist and not just a summary of historical events.
In her webcomic Grind Like A Girl, cartoonist Veronica Casson tells the story of growing up trans in 1990s New Jersey. The memoir recently came to a beautiful conclusion with Casson showing her first forays into New York, meeting other trans women, and finding a sense of community with them that was almost the polar opposite of her experiences in high school. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the evolution of Veronica Casson’s art style during different periods of her life from an almost Peanuts vibe for her childhood to using more flowing lines, bright colors, and ambitious panel layouts as an older teen and finally an adult. She also does a good job using the Instagram platform to give readers a true “guided view” experience and point out certain details before putting it all together in a single page so one can appreciate the comic at both a macro/micro levels. All in all, Grind Like A Girl is a personal and stylish coming of age memoir from Veronica Casson, and I look forward to seeing more of her work.
Thai/Italian cartoonist Elisa Macellari tells an unconventional World War II story in Papaya Salad, a recently translated history comic about her great uncle Sompong, who just wanted to see the world. However, he ended up serving with the Thai diplomatic corps in Italy, Germany, and Austria during World War II. Macellari uses a recipe for her great uncle’s favorite dish, papaya salad, to structure the comic, and her work has a warm, dreamlike quality to go with the reality of the places that Sampong visits and works at. Also, it’s very refreshing to get a non-American or British perspective on this time in history as Sampong grapples with the shifting status of Thailand during the war as well as the racism of American soldiers, who celebrate the atomic bomb and lump him and his colleagues with the Japanese officers, and are not shown in a very positive light. However, deep down, Papaya Salad is a love story filled with small human moments that make life worth living, like appetizing meals, jokes during dark times, and faith in something beyond ourselves. It’s a real showcase of the comics medium’s ability to tell stories from a unique point of view.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (with colorist Jacob Phillips) are two creators whose work has graced my “favorite comics” list many times. And this time they really outdid themselves with the graphic novella Pulpabout the final days of Max Winters, a gunslinger-turned-Western dime novelist. It’s a character study peppered with flashbacks as Phillips and Phillips use changes in body posture and color palette to show Max getting older while his passion for resisting those who would exploit others is still intact. Basically, he can shoot and rob fascists just like he shot and robbed cattle barons back in the day. Brubaker and Phillips understand that genre fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum and is informed by the historical context around it, which is what makes Pulp such a compelling read. If you like your explorations of the banality of evil and creeping specter of fascism with heists, gun battles, and plenty of introspection, then this is the comic for you.
Music is my next favorite interest after comics so My Riot was an easy pick for my favorite comics list. The book is a coming of age story filtered through 1990s riot girl music from writer Rick Spears and artist Emmett Helen. It follows the life of Valerie, who goes from doing ballet and living a fairly conservative suburban life to being the frontwoman and songwriter for a cult riot girl band. Much of this transformation happens through Helen’s art and colors as his palette comes to life just as Valerie does when she successfully calls out some audience members/her boyfriend for being sexist and patronizing. The comic itself also takes on a much more DIY quality with its layouts and storytelling design as well as how the characters look and act. My Riot is about the power of music to find one’s identify and true self and build a community like The Proper Ladies do throughout the book. Valerie’s arc is definitely empowering and relatable for any queer kid, who was forced to conform to way of life and thinking that wasn’t their own.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: slice of life is my all-time favorite comic book genre. So, I was overjoyed when writers Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, artist Jenny D. Fine, and colorist Mx. Struble announced that they were doing a monthly slice of life comic about a brother, sister, and their best friend/ex-boyfriend (respectively) set in San Francisco that also touched on the gay and indie music scene. And Getting It Together definitely has lifted up to my pre-release hype as Grace and Spahi have fleshed out a complex web of relationships and drama with gorgeous and occasionally hilarious art by Fine and Struble. There are gay and bisexual characters all over the book with different personalities and approaches to life, dating, and relationships, which is refreshing too. Grace, Spahi, and Fine also take some time away from the drama to let us know about the ensemble cast’s passions and struggles like indie musician Lauren’s lifelong love for songwriting even if her band has a joke name (Nipslip), or her ex-boyfriend Sam’s issues with mental health. I would definitely love to spend more than four issues with these folks.
My favorite comic of 2020 was The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott , a debut graphic novel by cartoonist Zoe Thorogood.The premise of the comic is that Billie is an artist who is going blind in two weeks, and she must come up with some paintings for her debut gallery show during that time period. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott boasts an adorably idiosyncratic cast of characters that Thorogood lovingly brings to life with warm visuals and naturalistic dialogue as Billie goes from making art alone in her room to making connections with the people around her, especially Rachel, a passionate folk punk musician. The book also acts as a powerful advocate for the inspirational quality of art and the act of creation. Zoe Thorogood even creates “art within the art” and concludes the story with the different portraits that Billie painted throughout her travels. The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott was the hopeful comic that I needed in a dark year and one I will cherish for quite some time as I ooh and aah over Thorogood’s skill with everything from drawing different hair styles to crafting horrific dream sequences featuring eyeballs.
Savage #1brings monster mayhem to comic shops this February.
Hit musician and critically-acclaimed writer Max Bemis and energetic artist Nathan Stockman present Savage, an action-packed adventure that’s loaded with animated artwork, lots of laughs, and a completely unpredictable story.
Kevin Sauvage, aka Savage, grew up on a remote island populated by bloodthirsty dinosaurs and terrifying marauders. The wild child knew only one thing: survival. Now, he’s living in London and has become a breakout viral sensation. As Savage learns to live in his new environment, a taste of home comes to London as dinosaurs invade the city! It’s time for Savage to do what he does best: hunt!
Savage #1 unleashes dinosaur-hunting fun this February 17th, 2021, featuring colors by Triona Farrell, letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and covers by Marcus To, Christian Ward, Stacey Lee, and Giuseppe Camuncoli.
Writer Max Bemis, artist Eryk Donovan, and colorist Cris Peter deconstruct the shit out of the whole “bad guy kills a good guys wife so he becomes a vigilante and takes revenge on them” genre in Heavy #1. The premise of the comic is that Bill lost both his wife and his life to the bullets of an Irish mobster and got stranded in a place called The Wait. Think Purgatory, but more Uber and less Dante. He plays the role of “Heavy” in The Wait killing and using violence to keep the multiverse “righteous” and maybe be reunited with his wife one day. Bemis mines a vein of dark humor in Heavy and couples it with a little of the old ultraviolence from Donovan and Peter while also caring about Bill’s mental health.
Heavy #1 is a laugh out loud funny and outrageous satire of the old tough guy mentality. Bemis’ script makes many references to action movies and heroes while undercutting their tropes. For example, Bill isn’t good at his Heavy job because he was ex-military; he’s good because of the non-stop repetition of his work. If something is the only thing you do all day, every day, you’re bound to get good at it. Donovan and Peter illustrate this in a single jaw-dropping image of Bill doing cool things with guns over and over. But then Bemis undercuts it with a quick one-liner as if taunting the reader to not find fist pumping entertainment value from Bill doing badass things when he’s basically the gun-toting anti-hero version of Sisyphus rolling his boulder up the hill.
This rhythm of badass thing followed by joke at the badass thing’s expense starts in basically the first scene of the comic where Bill gives a teenage bully a taste of his own medicine with a powerful punch and an acid drop of pink. Then, Bill is back in office with his boss Kyle, who is yelling at one of her other Heavies. It adds a touch of humanity to Bill as a character. He’s Charlie Brown getting the football yanked out from under him, but with more violence and weirdness. Max Bemis and Eryk Donovan even take some time to riff on the whole flashback visions of the dead wife trope, and while Cris Peter uses an extra-radiant palette for Bill’s dearly beloved, she gives him such a good advice as moving on and finding friends. But, of course, Bill doesn’t listen, and he won’t even take a Heavy partner to give him a better chance of getting out of The Wait and finding bliss.
Seriously, Heavy #1 goes to some weird places and is a better book for it. It will probably take a life time of brain bleach for me to scrub out the image of an alternate universe Leonardo da Vinci, who has gone from designing futuristic machines, to creating machines to remove the unsuspecting citizens of Renaissance Italy’s colons whilst indulging his foot fetish and lounging with his cock out. But that’s the mark of a good artist, and Eryk Donovan is perfectly fine indulging in absurdity while Cris Peter adds garish colors that symbolize both decadence and carnage. Because who needs photoreality when you’ve got pinks and oranges blasting through the Vatican, and Bill landing cheesy, yet epic one-liners about da Vinci forgetting to invent bullets while he was too busy doing his steampunk thing. And when he gets to do that, Bemis and Donovan remind readers that Bill is an incredibly competent killer thanks to his hours of practice and not much else going on. But he definitely needs some help in the mental health and self-actualization department.
Max Bemis takes the dark humor of both his songs with Say Anything and great comics like Moon Knight and Foolkiller combines it with unparalleled violence and wild, eye-popping visuals from Eryk Donovan and Cris Peter. There’s also strong, Vertigo-style supernatural world-building with tongue firmly placed in cheek; think less Sandman and more Preacher. Whether you like vibing out and thinking about the multiverse, afterlife, and moral philosophy, or just reading about a guy who kills the shit out of people thanks to his ever-present man-pain, Heavy #1 is a strong debut and the comic for you.
Story: Max Bemis Art: Eryk Donovan Colors: Cris Peter Letters: Taylor Esposito Story: 8.4 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.7 Recommendation: Buy
Vault provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
The first issue of Heavy, Vault‘s newest series, sold out at the distributor the day it went on sale. The series saw the largest influx of immediate on-sale date reorders in the publishers history. The issue is being rushed back to print. A new cover and release date for the second printing will be announced soon.
Heavy is co-created by writer Max Bemis, and artist Eryk Donovan, with colors by Cris Peter, letters by Taylor Esposito, and designs by Tim Daniel.
Bill may be dead, but he’s got a job to do.Welcome to the Big Wait, where folks who do’t quite make the cut go to work off their debt. Everyone in the Wait’s got a job. Bill is a Heavy, whose job is policing the multiverse, making sure bad eggs get what’s coming to them. He’s on track to earn his Climb and reunite with the woman he loves… until he meets his new partner: the worst dude of all time.
Heavy is The Punisher for neurotics; Inception for the impatient; Preacher for… well, it’s a lot like Preacher. Max Bemis and Eryk Donovan bring you a story about the existential purpose of dumb boys with big guns.
Bill may be dead, but he’s got a job to do. Welcome to the Big Wait, where folks who don’t quite make the cut go to work off their debt. Everyone in the Wait’s got a job. Bill is a Heavy, whose job is policing the multiverse, making sure bad eggs get what’s coming to them. He’s on track to earn his Climb and reunite with the woman he loves… Heavy is The Punisher for neurotics; Inception for the impatient; Preacher for…well, it’s a lot like Preacher. Max Bemis and Eryk Donavan bring you a story about the existential purpose of dumb boys with big guns in Heavy #1.
Max Bemis is one of those writers that I don’t tend to follow from comic to comic, but I always seem to enjoy the comics he writes to the point where I was on the fence about reading Heavy #1 until I saw Bemis’ name attached to the project. His dry sense of humor is evident throughout the pages of the comic as Bill’s snide and sarcastic comments drive his narrative through some spectacularly violent moments. This is a comic that opens with a middle-aged man breaking a teenager’s nose because we can only assume based on the knowledge we get a little further on, he deserved it on a cosmic scale of justice.
In fairness, compared to some of the other folks Bill encounters, the teenager got pretty lucky.
Comparisons to the Punisher are inevitable given that this is a character killing and otherwise injuring those who are guilty of some crime against the space/time continuum, but that’s where the similarities end (though it is really useful to be able to say “start with the thought of it’s like the Punisher meets Preacher, but its far more fun”). Whereas Frank Castle is a grim, determined guy with no shits to give who can stop his mission at any time (but won’t), Bill has a clearly defined end goal, a whole lot of self-pity, and a wry appreciation of what he has to do if he is going to finally move on with his (after)life.
Artistically, Eryk Donovan and Cris Peter are really solid. There are some suitably eclectic pages in the comic when it comes to the odd page (but what would you expect from a book whose main character has killed 14 different versions of the same person), and it helps to make the comic one of the more visually exciting reads on the racks. There’s an energy to the art that really encourages you to read the book at an equivalent pace to match what you’re seeing on the page, which can make you miss some of the details in the art itself. It’s an odd conflict, and one that may have been specific to me, but if nothing else it encourages you to read the book twice before you put it down.
Fortunately, it’s a book that’s more than good enough to read twice anyway.
Vault Comics have been publishing some absolute corkers recently, and Heavy #1 is another on a growing list of Must Read comics.
Writer: Max Bemis Art: Eryk Donovan Colorist: Cris Peter Letterer: Taylor Esposito Story: 8.5 Art: 8.2 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy
Vault provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purgatory. Limbo. Outside of Dante’s Divine Comedy, these are concepts rarely touched upon in the commonly dichotomous concepts of heaven and hell. What if, instead of a person’s entrance to heaven or hell being predicated on what they did over the course of their life, a person had a chance to earn their place in heaven after their death? That’s the question posed byHeavy #1. This new series from Titan Comics is due out on September 16th.
In Heavy #1, writer Max Bemis explores how far one man is willing to go in order to ascend to heaven and be reunited with his wife. To earn his way to heaven, Bill is sent all over the multiverse. He works as an enforcer, protecting timelines and dealing punishment to the villains of history. Bill’s tough guy persona quickly drew me to the character but it was his sensitive side that won me over. It’s not common to see the hero in an action story motivated by feelings that come off as believable and realistic. As if the premise, plot, and character development weren’t enough to draw me in, the first issue also ended with a shocking reveal. Throughout the first half of the comic, I wasn’t impressed with the artwork. It was good but not spectacular. Then, I got to an aerial fight scene and was blown away. The framing of the panels is dynamic and the colors are quite striking.
Heavy #1 is an action packed, existential thrill ride. Just like a multiverse, the story could branch from here into any number of possible storylines as Bill continues his quest to be reunited with his wife. For an action comic with a science-fiction twist, the story has quite a bit of heart. Readers will find themselves invested in the plot after only a few pages. Be sure to pick up Heavy #1 when it releases on September 16th.
Story: Max Bemis Art: Eryk Donovan Color: Cris Peter Letterer: Taylor Esposito Story: 9.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Buy
Vault Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
