The concept of a comic that explores addiction and vampires is an interesting one with a lot of potential. No Heroine #1 focuses on Kayla an addict who’s searching for her boyfriend who may be using again. Her journey has her diving into the world of vampires who apparently exist in this world and in this case, are a gang of drug dealers.
Writer Frank Gogol delivers a spin on the vampire slayer archetype and like so many of the stories the heroine in this case is able to dispatch vampires with ease. It’s an interesting concept for a comic that doesn’t explore the things that make it interesting. The title, No Heroine, is a clever play on words. Kayla is both the heroine and a user of heroin (I assume, her addiction is never really fully explained). She’s clean and sober now and with sobriety comes amazing abilities?
No Heroine #1 explores the surface of the series concept. There’s a lot of potential in the ideas within. The concept of addiction and vampirism are something worth exploring together. How far someone is willing to go to get their drug is another? And, someone attempting to stay clean while having to explore within a world where that’s difficult is yet another concept worthy of a story. Any of these things would make a must-read comic. But, we instead get a copy Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a not as sunny main character.
There’s also not enough depth explored in the concepts. Kayla is looking for her boyfriend Sid. What happens to Sid just… happens. We don’t really get a sense as to why he goes from point A to point C, he just does. Kayla too is able to dispatch vampires without issue which has you wondering why others don’t? And Kayla’s sobriety too is teased and the reader is left with potentially the most interesting aspect about the character to hopefully be explored in another issue.
The art by Criss Madd with color by Shawna Madd is ok. The designs feel a bit cartoonish and personal taste may be where it all comes down. There’s a certain lack of consistency for me in the character depictions with different angles of a face not quite lining up to be the same face. They’re off just a bit. The coloring to is a bit bright for the comic betraying the dark nature of the subject matter. It’s a style that would work better for a comedy than a story about addiction that features vampires.
No Heroine #1 has a lot of good concepts and ideas but the most interesting aspects of the comic are left to the side. We get a fairly cookie-cutter story of a heroine who can kick vampire ass. There’s potential in even that but by the end of the comic we’re left with a story that feels like it’s been done and nothing to make it really stand out from the (vampire) pack.
Story: Frank Gogol Art: Criss Madd
Color: Shawna Madd Letterer: Sean Rineheart
Story: 6.0 Art: 6.0 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass
Graphic Policy was provided with a FREE copy for review
