Under #1

Writer: Christopher Bec
Artist: Stefano Raffaele
Colorist: Christian Favrelle
Publisher: Statix Press

Statix Press, an international imprint of Titan Comics, starts with a series about the search for cryptids in the sewers of a big city called Megalopolis. This issue is a nice start to possibly a great new thing among comics.

Italian comic book artist Stefano Raffaele, who has worked on some DC and Marvel comics, has done a great job with this comic. It feels very classic to the comic book look and is so detailed. His giant alligator and giant spider are scary and the action is intense.

The writing is full of comic book tropes but they are done really well. Jericho, a disgraced cop, is now working in the sewage police force when a female scientist, Sandra Yeatman, starts tagging along with him in search of cryptids. They begin to find some pretty creepy things down in the tunnels that are puzzling the forensic scientist. It is revealed that there are monsters of all kinds down in the sewage tunnels, even including Pariahs, criminals who traffic and engage in other illegal activities throughout the sewage system.

This first issue is a really nice long read that is very engaging. It really has everything it needs to be a great comic book. It has a cool, disgraced cop story, a corrupt mayor, a scientist asking the right questions, giant undiscovered creatures, and a ton of action. I think that the length helped perfect the reading experience, because nothing in the issue felt forced and nothing felt lacking. It was all there for me to take in, get fully invested in the characters and the cryptid problem, and finish the issue with a high expectation for the next issue.