EDITOR's NOTE: The second issue of Caliber will be available on Wednesday, June 25th

Radical is a new publisher in the field of comics. They are looking to claim their own spot on the map with everyone else, and they’re trying to do it with two new series already two issues deep. One of those series would be Hercules, and the other is Caliber. Radical gave Comics Bulletin a chance to look at the second issue in this book of five before it hits the stands.

Where to start with this one…Caliber is a tough book to judge. The story is loosely wound around a gun that has some sort of mystical power. It is the Old West, and a Native American tribesman has been charged with finding someone to holster the weapon. Only one person, a person that has within them an ultimate sense of law and what is just, can wield the gun. When fired, and we do get a chance to see this in the second installment, the weapon emits an absurdly high-powered blast capable of tearing massive holes in those who end up on the wrong side of justice. It seems pretty simply, right?

Well, this book starts to falter when it comes time to throw characters at the plot. There is just so much going on page to page and even sometimes panel to panel. The transitions are barely indicated when it comes time to change locales or speakers. Readers will likely find themselves scratching their heads when it comes time to actually try and identify the speaking set of characters. Some have long hair, some have beards, some are women; but there are no telltale signs that separate anyone in the book. Most of the art looks great, more on that in a second, but the costuming for the characters creates little diversity, thus making the reader’s life miserable.

Caliber does bring some truly awesome visuals to the table, so a lot of credit should be heaped up on to Garrie Gastonny and Imaginary Friends Studios. The pencils and inks make the book seem as if it were quickly sketched while the colors make it feel like a painting. The Old West tone that the art creates for the book works very well here, and there is no denying that when a fight breaks out readers are going to hang on to each panel and page. There are moments in dialogue when the imagery seems to lack some depth, but they stand small against the larger backdrop of the entire issue. Perhaps that may be getting nitpicky, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

What semblance of story there seems to be in this book carries with it a lot of potential. Sarkar has room to do wonderful things with this justice seeking weapon, but with two issues under his belt so far, only three left in the mini itself, it seems he has a lot of work to do. That’s the thing with Caliber after the second issue, it feels like work. I don’t mean that in a hugely bad way, but the book seems to read in a very difficult manner. I found myself pulling at the images within panels just to get exactly what was going on, and sometimes I downright failed. There was a turning point in my opinion of the book, I’ve mentioned it above, and that was the firing of the magical weapon. The moment had a brilliant effect on me and I’m excited to see the pistol fired again and the poor sap that catches the blast; but will the juice really be worth the squeeze? Only time will tell with Caliber. The same goes for Radical as a publisher.

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