Plunder #1
PLUNDER #1
Written by SWIFTY LANG
Illustrated by SKUDS MCKINLEY
Colors by JASON WORDIE
Letters by DERON BENNETT
Plunder is a story of brutal men finding something more brutal than them.
Swifty Lang and Skuds McKinley bring us, with this first issue of four, a story of a clan of Somalian pirates, famous in recent history for their very real “terrorist” attacks on foreign vessels as well as their portrayal in films like Captain Phillips. This time around however, they aren’t at odds with Tom Hanks, they’re at odds with horrors of the deep sea akin to Cthulhu-like monstrosities.
Lang writes an interesting, if inconsistent, story in this first issue. Bahdoon, the youngest and newest member of this clan of pirates, introduces us to each of his counterparts in quick succession with a blend of wondrously flowing scripting and…”broken” English. It’s just one example of the weird duality of this book but it’s the most noticeable. First, these men are speaking broken English, Bahdoon their translator, but then suddenly partway through this issue, everyone begins to speak fluent even colloquial English that without a doubt breaks any realistic façade that the book initially establishes.
Thankfully, Lang recovers in other ways. Bahdoon’s narration of sorts is compelling enough to warrant attention as he literally mumbles and expresses only half thoughts in the squared off speech bubbles that introduce or pockmark each page, getting more erratic as the things confronted by the crew do. It’s a bit of a realistic, human element which certainly brings some needed grounding and pacing to the story. A story, which, as of the end of this issue, is pretty good. Combining a real and sensational thing like 20th century piracy with horror elements could either pay off incredibly well or become a muddled mess. Here, it pays off well. The scripted, “jump-out” moments and reveals are paced, disturbing and hard to turn away from as both man and creature come together in visceral, brutal moments of life or death action. Lang knows how to write horror for sure, he just struggled with the build up to it.
McKinley and Wordie are, too, inconsistent but often better than not. The sketchy, loose technique that McKinley employs works well in books like this and keeps even scenes of dialogue interesting. However, some of the scale and perspective is noticeably off. There’s one moment, later in the book, where a character’s hand and the gun in it just look…off, too small or too big it’s hard to pinpoint but in a book that relies a lot on character interaction and reaction, it’s important to get those things right.
The further the story progresses into the darkness at the bottom of the sea, so too, does the art, wonderfully so. Intestine, tentacle, knife and gun all come together in a palate of horror elements that works beautifully here and leaves the reader hungry for what’s next.
Ultimately, Plunder is a book that will either make itself or defeat itself. If these creators can pump out more of the smart writing and pacing with more horrors to see, it’ll become a short story I can see myself coming back to. If the dialogue continues to be inconsistent and the art has brief moments of obvious misstep, though, then it’s just another horror story in a big pool of them. They only have 3 issues to pull it off. But, right now, it’s looking like they can do it.
Written by SWIFTY LANG
Illustrated by SKUDS MCKINLEY
Colors by JASON WORDIE
Letters by DERON BENNETT
Plunder is a story of brutal men finding something more brutal than them.
Swifty Lang and Skuds McKinley bring us, with this first issue of four, a story of a clan of Somalian pirates, famous in recent history for their very real “terrorist” attacks on foreign vessels as well as their portrayal in films like Captain Phillips. This time around however, they aren’t at odds with Tom Hanks, they’re at odds with horrors of the deep sea akin to Cthulhu-like monstrosities.
Lang writes an interesting, if inconsistent, story in this first issue. Bahdoon, the youngest and newest member of this clan of pirates, introduces us to each of his counterparts in quick succession with a blend of wondrously flowing scripting and…”broken” English. It’s just one example of the weird duality of this book but it’s the most noticeable. First, these men are speaking broken English, Bahdoon their translator, but then suddenly partway through this issue, everyone begins to speak fluent even colloquial English that without a doubt breaks any realistic façade that the book initially establishes.
Thankfully, Lang recovers in other ways. Bahdoon’s narration of sorts is compelling enough to warrant attention as he literally mumbles and expresses only half thoughts in the squared off speech bubbles that introduce or pockmark each page, getting more erratic as the things confronted by the crew do. It’s a bit of a realistic, human element which certainly brings some needed grounding and pacing to the story. A story, which, as of the end of this issue, is pretty good. Combining a real and sensational thing like 20th century piracy with horror elements could either pay off incredibly well or become a muddled mess. Here, it pays off well. The scripted, “jump-out” moments and reveals are paced, disturbing and hard to turn away from as both man and creature come together in visceral, brutal moments of life or death action. Lang knows how to write horror for sure, he just struggled with the build up to it.
McKinley and Wordie are, too, inconsistent but often better than not. The sketchy, loose technique that McKinley employs works well in books like this and keeps even scenes of dialogue interesting. However, some of the scale and perspective is noticeably off. There’s one moment, later in the book, where a character’s hand and the gun in it just look…off, too small or too big it’s hard to pinpoint but in a book that relies a lot on character interaction and reaction, it’s important to get those things right.
The further the story progresses into the darkness at the bottom of the sea, so too, does the art, wonderfully so. Intestine, tentacle, knife and gun all come together in a palate of horror elements that works beautifully here and leaves the reader hungry for what’s next.
Ultimately, Plunder is a book that will either make itself or defeat itself. If these creators can pump out more of the smart writing and pacing with more horrors to see, it’ll become a short story I can see myself coming back to. If the dialogue continues to be inconsistent and the art has brief moments of obvious misstep, though, then it’s just another horror story in a big pool of them. They only have 3 issues to pull it off. But, right now, it’s looking like they can do it.
A Look Inside
