Matt Kindt is a brilliant writer. His stories can delve into the trippy and ethereal playing off of established genres. Bang! #1 gives us a “James Bond” like debut but with Kindt’s usual twists and turns.
Thomas Cord is a secret agent who works for MI-X, an off the books organization fighting the evil group Goldmaze. Then, there’s an author whose works delve into the spy genre and might be a Goldmaze agent, or at least passing along secrets. The mission? Cord is to hunt down Philip Verve and find out what’s going on. The problem? Cord has memories of missions going back decades before he was even born.
Wait. What!?
Yes, Kindt throws in twists and turns of possible false memories and who knows what else. Bang! #1 takes you down the rabbit hole as Cord himself figures out something isn’t right. This is the type of genre bending that Kindt is known for and excels at. This debut promises a series that seems like it’ll deliver and meet high expectations.
Kindt has teamed up with artist Wilfredo Torres. Torres is joined by Nayoung Kim on colores and Nate Piekos on lettering. The art is good with a style that doesn’t go for flashy. The art is a straightforward delivery. It eschews crazy action-filled page layouts but delivering on the right amount of detail and focus. That visual lull helps in a way as the rug is pulled out of Cord. At that point, the visuals hit and much like Cord’s experience the reader experiences a different visual read.
The visuals extend to opening and closing pages from a novel with its blood soaked pages. Kindt has a habit of extending the story beyond the panel and he does that here adding in a flair that enhances the reading experience.
Bang! #1 is a solid start. It might seem like a straightforward spy adventure with tips to the hat to James Bond. In reality, it’s so much more as we learn the further along the story we go. Kindt nails it again with a debut that’s as much a mystery to the reader as it is to the main character.
Story: Matt Kindt Art: Wilfredo Torres
Color: Nayoung Kim Letterer: Nate Piekos
Story: 8.0 Art: 7.75 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
