Writer/artist: Nicc Balce
Publisher: Viper Comics
I can’t remember the last time when the first page of a new comic won me over completely and utterly. I think it might have been Spider-Man and Zoids, for those who remember that beauty. It’s certainly been a while, but I knew when I read the first page of this comic that I’d enjoy what Balce had to offer. Technically, since I missed the first issue, this probably doesn’t count as “new” as such, but the story here is actually quite self-contained, so I’m bending the rules a bit.
Gaming humour is one thing, and a very common thing too nowadays, but for some reason, the conflating of the continue screen of an arcade game and the near-death “tunnel of white light” concept just struck me as inspired, and I was hooked immediately.
This is a good fun read. I’m a bit concerned at the seeming lack of depth, but on the other hand, if Balce can offer up such entertainment on a consistent basis, then I can’t complain too much. The action is fast-moving and exciting, the characters are funny and well-written, if a little shallow at this point, and there’s enough of a plot to hold things together and make sense.
The art is a little inconsistent, veering from scrappy and almost amateurish to confident and professional often on the same page. I think Balce would be better off using a thicker line, as used on some of the earlier pages here, and a bit more work put into backgrounds would work wonders. Otherwise, there’s a great deal to enjoy here. The action sequences are great fun, and the character designs are interesting, especially the weird black alien things, which look suitably strange and creepy despite being made up of a small selection of very simple visual elements. I also enjoyed the many graphical elements used throughout, with arrows popping up to point things out as characters talk about them, and cutaway images being used to explain concepts. It’s an intelligent use of the medium that many modern comics sadly ignore in an attempt to look filmic and “serious,” and it’s great to see it employed here. What doesn’t look quite as good is the lettering; the only real problem is the way the speech bubbles are arranged on the page, but it’s so amazingly screwed-up that it does detract from the story just a tiny morsel of the littlest tad. For example, there’s one panel towards the end where the intention appears to have been to draw the readers' eye across the image in a certain way through the dialogue, but it ends up looking like some bizarre word-octopus has died on the page after having an epileptic seizure.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic, and while it has flaws, none do any irredeemable harm to the book. With a bit of tinkering in one or two areas, this could be a top-notch action/humour comic, and I eagerly look forward to the next issue.
What did you think of this book?
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