In turbulent times, when cops are often portrayed as the enemy of the people, Detective Chip Christopher maneuvers the blurred blue line between racism and due diligence in order to do his job. And right now it’s his job to investigate Turn, a young black man with a sketchy past-who was previously exonerated of a similar murder.

Vindication #1 is an interesting comic and one I’ve been looking forward to reading. In the real world, there’s absolutely issues with systemic racism and bigotry in our policing and the judicial system. Vindication seemed like a comic attempting to address this and in some ways it does but in doing so delivers a comic that’s not all that entertaining.

The focus of the issue is Detective Chip Christopher who is early on presented as an asshole. This isn’t a cop balancing the line attempting to do the right thing at all. Throughout the issue, this is a corrupt officer who will do whatever he has to to convict a person, even if they really are innocent. This is exactly what is wrong with the justice system and as presented, writer MD Marie focuses the comic on a character that’s completely unlikeable.

It’d be one thing if this was a story where a cop was being pressured by those above and they slowly come around but as presented everyone else seems to be on the up and up, it’s just Christopher that’s the corrupt one. Not only is that unlikely with the LAPD (recent news backs this up). It’s a very odd focus and start for the series that leaves us with no character to identify with or like.

The art too has issues. Carlos Miko‘s pencils, the ink by Dema Jr., color by Thiago Goncalves just doesn’t feel like the crisp quality we’d expect from a Top Cow comic. Art at times is unclear, details in facial expressions are off, the overall package just doesn’t look like a comic I’d expect from this publisher. Add in the fact that characters at times look too similar and it creates an overall package that’s a bit forgettable. You can see the issues with the cover that features hands that look like they were designed in MS Paint.

The concept is odd. The art is lower quality. This is a comic that feels like it’s more concept than execution. It wants to be relevant and feels a bit rushed out to be so. The story itself is choppy at time, drags at other points, and overall gives us no characters that we should like at all. Vindication had an opportunity to be a comic that was socially relevant and has something to say, instead it feels like a cash in, making money off of real world issues.

Created: Matt Hawkins and MD Marie
Story: MD Marie Art: Carlos Miko
Ink: Dema Jr. Color: Thiago Goncalves
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Story: 5.0 Art: 6.0 Overall: 5.0 Recommendation: Pass

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review