DODGE CITY #1 REVIEW
Creator/writer: Josh Trujillo
Illustrator: Cara McGee
Colors: Brittany Peer w/ Cara McGee
Letters: Aubrey Aiese
Publisher: BOOM! Box
I love how everything in this comic worked together. The story was as flat as the coloring.
This first issue did do a good job introducing the characters. Not through back-story. Oh no, there was none of that. It just put all the characters’ names under their faces the first time or two we saw them. Introducing characters? Check that off the list.
Also, the whole comic took place through one game of dodge ball. And, I mean, you pick up a comic book about dodge ball, you want to see them play it. But, I want to care about the characters! I want to know where they come from! What makes them tick. Otherwise, I am too disconnected from the plot. Sometimes when I can’t get into a story, I blame myself, but this time, it wasn’t my fault. I want to see the characters outside of the gym, or even outside of a match! Tomás is new to the group. How did he connect with these people? And his meteoric rise at the end is completely out of left field (sorry for mixing my sports metaphors). That needed more of an explanation as well.
The artwork was a little confused too. Some characters, especially our protagonist, Tomás, have very clear manga influences while others don’t. And while there are traces of manga throughout the comic, most of it feels like the style of a (whatever we’ve decided to call the first decade of this century) Saturday morning cartoon combined with the sketchy comics we all drew in our schoolbooks as kids. And, the weak lettering really had a hand in that. It just looks like normal handwriting. I get it is a stylistic choice, but why make that choice?
This next part I am not citing as a fault, because I love that comics are starting to have strong Latinx characters, I just need to say it to have a full review. There were a couple of pages of dialogue all in Spanish. Not knowing the language, I don’t know if I missed anything important there or not.
Maybe when the series steps out of this bottle it will be worth picking up, but, this was far from a strong first outing.
(Also, I was told this was going to be a comedy. Where were the jokes?)
Illustrator: Cara McGee
Colors: Brittany Peer w/ Cara McGee
Letters: Aubrey Aiese
Publisher: BOOM! Box
I love how everything in this comic worked together. The story was as flat as the coloring.
This first issue did do a good job introducing the characters. Not through back-story. Oh no, there was none of that. It just put all the characters’ names under their faces the first time or two we saw them. Introducing characters? Check that off the list.
Also, the whole comic took place through one game of dodge ball. And, I mean, you pick up a comic book about dodge ball, you want to see them play it. But, I want to care about the characters! I want to know where they come from! What makes them tick. Otherwise, I am too disconnected from the plot. Sometimes when I can’t get into a story, I blame myself, but this time, it wasn’t my fault. I want to see the characters outside of the gym, or even outside of a match! Tomás is new to the group. How did he connect with these people? And his meteoric rise at the end is completely out of left field (sorry for mixing my sports metaphors). That needed more of an explanation as well.
The artwork was a little confused too. Some characters, especially our protagonist, Tomás, have very clear manga influences while others don’t. And while there are traces of manga throughout the comic, most of it feels like the style of a (whatever we’ve decided to call the first decade of this century) Saturday morning cartoon combined with the sketchy comics we all drew in our schoolbooks as kids. And, the weak lettering really had a hand in that. It just looks like normal handwriting. I get it is a stylistic choice, but why make that choice?
This next part I am not citing as a fault, because I love that comics are starting to have strong Latinx characters, I just need to say it to have a full review. There were a couple of pages of dialogue all in Spanish. Not knowing the language, I don’t know if I missed anything important there or not.
Maybe when the series steps out of this bottle it will be worth picking up, but, this was far from a strong first outing.
(Also, I was told this was going to be a comedy. Where were the jokes?)
A Look Inside
