REVIEW: Dark Red #1
Too many times comics are centered on those important people who always seem to be the head of this organisation or some such or even characters that get elevated to a higher societal place. In Dark Red we are as far removed from that idea as we could possibly get.
Charles “Chip” Ipswich has one goal in life. Finish work on time and get home. Seems relatively reasonable, especially as he works the graveyard shift at the local gas station. However his boss doesn’t quite see it like; but that is probably because she doesn’t know that Chip is vampire! Juggling his undead life with shifts at the gas station and siphoning blood from Evie Keen, the local hottie, Chip is stuck in a middle American rut. That’s all about to change when SHE walks into his pretty straightforward world.
Tim Seeley has worked on some pretty big characters, probably most notably Dick Grayson in a variety of identities. His work on Grayson was particularly fun, if a little “out of left field” on occasion. Here, he captures the every day humdrum of existence, regardless of being a vampire, that life can certainly fall into. Of course, this being a comic and the fact that Chip needs to appear the hero, the coincidence of Evie’s blood disorder screams aloud against the backdrop what is otherwise a fair approximation of a desperate life, to paraphrase a familiar idiom. The dialogue works well across the board; we all know that type of boss who expects that, quite literally in case, their pound of flesh that being a supervisor seemingly warrants them to have. The customers are the customers with their own skewed world view of what is important. Political stances make a brief appearance, but are handled adroitly.
The pencils of Corin Howell are a bit of a surprise to be honest; in a good way. Probably best known for a range of licensed books, Howell displays an almost cartoon exaggeration to his figure work. Chip is lean, Evie curvy and the townsfolk are especially hick-y. The thick lines really help to make the characters stand out. Another great example of the quality to the art is the face of the characters all work within their own story. As this isn’t a superhero book, there isn’t a great deal of action par se, though an altercation is well handled for the most part, with only the minimum of disjointedness; it took me a while to work out who was vampire and who was human. The heavy art is also helped by some heavy colors supplied by Mark Englert, I believe, (my preview copy doesn’t have a credits page), who uses the titular color well, accentuating certain vampiric elements whilst also changing it up for a more clean palate towards the end of the issue. Letters are provided by Marshal Dillon, who does well keeping the conversations between Chip and Evie flowing as well as giving some of the side characters such as Stu and Cam their own font and style which conveys their situations well.
When it comes to vampires, there isn’t really a whole not of new stuff you can add. In this case, there are influences in play that you may have seen before, most notably True Blood and Twilight, with the setting and the idea of marking the land as theirs; though thankfully there are no sparkly vampires. Previously AftserShock like to go for the jugular when it comes to stories with a twist. This idea may have served it’s usefulness as constant twists and turns can become the norm with over use. As such, this book, with its reasonably normal setup is actually a bit of fresh for the publisher, though I am sure that whole story may have a bite down the line.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Tim Seeley
Art by; Corin Howell
Colors by; Mark Englert
Letters by; Marshall Dillon
Published by; AfterShock Comics
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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