Savage Things #1
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Ibrahim Moustafa
Colors: Jordan Boyd
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Vertigo has delivered, if this first issue is any indication, what looks to be another great series. It’s funny I often hear people saying how Vertigo is finished because of Image Comics being so successful the last 5 years or so and the launch of Young Animal but they continue to produce amazing stories. This gritty new book is about a secret government agency that identifies children with sociopath traits and brings them into the fold by any means necessary to train them to serve their country as living weapons.
The story jumps between the recruitment and training of what looks to be our main protagonist, Abel, and a present day plot involving a grown up Abel. The transition between the two timelines is absolutely seamless. The writer does a wonderful job of going between the two without it having a jarring affect on the reader. It’s really a great technique of building up and developing the main character. By the end of the issue you have a real feel of who he is and how he got there.
Jordan uses dialogue instead of narrative to advance the story and it works quite well. In fact there are no narrative blocks throughout the entire issue which is unusual. I’m hard pressed to think of an individual issue that only used dialogue throughout. It never came out as forced dialogue just to inform the reader of what was happening, it was always just natural character interaction.
Moustafa’s art is exceptional throughout the entire issue. The characters were all distinctly drawn and his facial expressions were spot on to catch whatever emotion needed portraying. When it was needed his backgrounds offered the right amount of detail to pull you into the scene. At other times he relies on colorist Jordan Boyd to capture the mood of the scene by using muted tones and shadows. Working together the art and colors give us a grim looking world which matches the tone set by the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this opening chapter of Savage Things. I think we’re in for a real treat with this new series. It has an interesting espionage, secret government agency type story going on with exceptional artwork. This series is an easy one to recommend and heck it’s a first issue so it’s the perfect jumping on point!
Artist: Ibrahim Moustafa
Colors: Jordan Boyd
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Vertigo has delivered, if this first issue is any indication, what looks to be another great series. It’s funny I often hear people saying how Vertigo is finished because of Image Comics being so successful the last 5 years or so and the launch of Young Animal but they continue to produce amazing stories. This gritty new book is about a secret government agency that identifies children with sociopath traits and brings them into the fold by any means necessary to train them to serve their country as living weapons.
The story jumps between the recruitment and training of what looks to be our main protagonist, Abel, and a present day plot involving a grown up Abel. The transition between the two timelines is absolutely seamless. The writer does a wonderful job of going between the two without it having a jarring affect on the reader. It’s really a great technique of building up and developing the main character. By the end of the issue you have a real feel of who he is and how he got there.
Jordan uses dialogue instead of narrative to advance the story and it works quite well. In fact there are no narrative blocks throughout the entire issue which is unusual. I’m hard pressed to think of an individual issue that only used dialogue throughout. It never came out as forced dialogue just to inform the reader of what was happening, it was always just natural character interaction.
Moustafa’s art is exceptional throughout the entire issue. The characters were all distinctly drawn and his facial expressions were spot on to catch whatever emotion needed portraying. When it was needed his backgrounds offered the right amount of detail to pull you into the scene. At other times he relies on colorist Jordan Boyd to capture the mood of the scene by using muted tones and shadows. Working together the art and colors give us a grim looking world which matches the tone set by the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this opening chapter of Savage Things. I think we’re in for a real treat with this new series. It has an interesting espionage, secret government agency type story going on with exceptional artwork. This series is an easy one to recommend and heck it’s a first issue so it’s the perfect jumping on point!
A Look Inside
