SCALES AND SCOUNDRELS #1

by Doug Warren on September 06, 2017

Writer – Sebastian Girner
Artist – Galaad
Letters and Design – Jeff Powell
Publisher – Image Comics
 
Scales and Scoundrels is off to a great start. This shouldn’t be a surprise because at the helm we have Sebastian Girner, co-writer of Shirtless Bear-Fighter, a series that all (just one) the critics (again, only me) unanimously agree is the greatest comic book series of all time. And the art of Galaad and design of Jeff Powell give this book the perfect personality.
 
Girner’s writing is catered to luring the reader in. There is so much suspense built up just over the protagonist’s name and back-story that I don’t think anyone who reads past page one will be able to put this book down. And the opening of the book, having these characters in a fantasy world playing an RPG based card game, it is so simple yet so genius. Of course people in a fantasy world play fantasy games. That’s normal! What’s weird is that we play them. Right? Either way, it is the perfect tongue in cheek wink at the fan base right out of the gate.
 
There isn’t too much given away in this first issue, just enough of a taste to make us want to read more. And this series looks destined to have endless characters and avenues to be explored.
 
Lastly, with something you don’t see too often in comics, or at least as obvious, Scales and Scoundrels showed a very deliberate use of white space. With even a tinting on the speech bubbles, there was a stark difference in the white of the page and the frames of the comic which really made the artwork standout.

Our Score:

9/10

A Look Inside