Crimson Society #1

Welcome to Pearl City, the year is 2030 and humans happily co-exist with werewolves, vampires & zombies. It’s far from a perfect utopia and for one specific human, it’s about to get much worse. Meet Jack Crimson, like many, Jack’s an average human being living out his life and like many, when the moon is full, he transforms into a feral like creature known as a werewolf. Fed up with his current affliction, Jack seeks the help of an obscure doctor who claims he can cure him from his lycanthrope condition. Desperate & anxious, Jack agrees and soon enough, wakes up from surgery a physically changed individual. Armed with artificially enhanced arms, he finds himself fighting vampires with extreme prejudice that propels his life to spiral out of control.

The Team

Written by Mike Hunau, illustrated by Carlos Trigo, coloured by Andrea Celestini & lettered by L. Jamal Walton.

The Pros & Cons

Here at CTG, we seldom have the opportunity to review digital comics or web comics, it’s not that we don’t like them, it’s just that we’re so damn busy with the other big cheeses like Marvel, DC, Image & Dark Horse, that often we forget that other mediums of comic books are out there. Writers & artists, who pour their blood, sweat & tears into each and every comic they create. Bold new worlds with creative ideas, featuring new heroes, anti heroes & villains or familiar settings with a fresh perspective, offering the reader a totally different reading experience. That’s exactly how I felt after reading Crimson Society #1, it’s a work of passion and it shows.

Now grant it, Pearl City’s society seems familiar, TV shows like True Blood, movies like Underworld & video games like Deus Ex Human Revolution come to mind. The truth is, I’ve never seen True Blood and being that this is only the first issue, something tells me that future issues will deliver some unexpected surprises. In this fictional futuristic city, on the surface, every minority groups seem to be getting along, but when you have so many different types of species/monsters crammed together in one giant city, sooner or later tensions will flare & gangs will rise. Case in point, on one page there’s a poster of a red fist on the wall the reads “March for Humanity and Only the Pure”. Are humans trying to take over? Are they the minority? The story doesn’t focus on that… yet. I’d love to read the back story of Pearl City’s beginnings, but this is about Jack Crimson and the predicaments he finds himself into.

Writer Mike Hunau has crafted a straight forward story, but with a flawed, but interesting protagonist who deals with some nasty opponents that cross his path. It’s savage and gory, in other words a bloody good time! Carlos Trigo’s illustrations, with the help of colourist Andrea Celestini have a cartoony style with sharp edges that seemingly burst out from their panels like a caged animal ripping out of its cage. The colours are vibrant and give the look of the city & its citizens a pulse. I love how the vampires ooze purple blood and the red from Jack’s cybernetic arms burned my retinas. My very favourite drawing has got to be the panel in which Jack is sitting in Doctor Rendal’s waiting room. It’s a great angle, which demonstrates the awesome talents of a true penciller. Nice touch.

The Outcome

Kudos to the creators of this web comic, I had a blast reading it and I look forward to the next three issues. For more information check out www.crimsonsociety.co