Tainted Love #1
Antarctic Press 2019
Created & Written by Arthur Bellfield
Illustrated by Cloves Rodriguez & Flavio Silva
Coloured by Luca Bulgheroni & Ernest Johnson
Lettered by Toben Racicot
Chloe Anderson is a troubled woman who dates super villains and often calls upon them to help her solve cases as a crisis manager for superhuman millennials. Her life has led her to give up on love, so now she dates only men to whom she won't form an attachment. Then she meets the one: American One, a superhero. In the middle of a date, he gets into a superhuman fight and disappears. Chloe discovers he's been taken to a secret military complex and been shot!
In a short amount of time, I have really been impressed with what I have seen coming out of Antarctic Press. Here we open up with a recanting of how Chloe’s date ended as she tells her best friend and flatmate about what happened. I also have to say one thing right off the bat, where Devin is when she’s telling her this is freakin priceless. Still this one of the ways that I personally enjoy starting off a new series. It leaves more backstory unavailable at this time which only means it can be used later, this world is somewhat pre-made and there has been some effort into the particulars before it even went to print. Not everything has to start off with an origin or for beginners only and I like the tension and the dynamic started right up front.
So while we can get into her relationships another time we do get to meet her date and what happened to him afterwards. So love it or hate it this dude considers himself a hero, willing to do what Liberals won’t, keep America safe from Thugs and Immigrants polluting the streets. Which seems amazingly topical at the moment all things considered that is going on in the United States right now. So props for the characterisation and showing that this guy believes in who he is and what he’s doing and by no means does he consider himself anything other than the countries greatest hero. I find it an interesting dynamic really considering who he works for and with, at least according to what we see within these pages. What Arthur manages to do very well here is set-up something where the character is a moral quandary and depending on your beliefs is how you're going to see his actions.
The interiors here are really rather nice. While I have a few questions about why eyes are white at times the body proportions and how we see the characters has a nice feel about them. I really love the linework here and how the varying weights are utilised to bring out the attention to detail. It does call a few things into question and makes me want to see more. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off a very solid eye for storytelling. I am very big on backgrounds and seeing them utilised and the way they are here makes me very happy. The colour here is very nicely done as well. The wood flooring, for example, took me by surprise but I love it, the way colour is used in gradation and highlighting is nice to see as well.
The way the characters are introduced and the primary role they will is being fleshed out nicely. I like that there is room for them to grow, change and realise things differently but for the moment however, there is a really good strong starting point for all them. I look forward to seeing how each of the roles is in reality instead of how the others see it but in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the heck out of the way they currently interact.
There is superb storytelling going on here, it engages the reader and you find the issue over and you’re in that whole wait what where’s the rest stage which is sensational in its own right.
Antarctic Press 2019
Created & Written by Arthur Bellfield
Illustrated by Cloves Rodriguez & Flavio Silva
Coloured by Luca Bulgheroni & Ernest Johnson
Lettered by Toben Racicot
Chloe Anderson is a troubled woman who dates super villains and often calls upon them to help her solve cases as a crisis manager for superhuman millennials. Her life has led her to give up on love, so now she dates only men to whom she won't form an attachment. Then she meets the one: American One, a superhero. In the middle of a date, he gets into a superhuman fight and disappears. Chloe discovers he's been taken to a secret military complex and been shot!
In a short amount of time, I have really been impressed with what I have seen coming out of Antarctic Press. Here we open up with a recanting of how Chloe’s date ended as she tells her best friend and flatmate about what happened. I also have to say one thing right off the bat, where Devin is when she’s telling her this is freakin priceless. Still this one of the ways that I personally enjoy starting off a new series. It leaves more backstory unavailable at this time which only means it can be used later, this world is somewhat pre-made and there has been some effort into the particulars before it even went to print. Not everything has to start off with an origin or for beginners only and I like the tension and the dynamic started right up front.
So while we can get into her relationships another time we do get to meet her date and what happened to him afterwards. So love it or hate it this dude considers himself a hero, willing to do what Liberals won’t, keep America safe from Thugs and Immigrants polluting the streets. Which seems amazingly topical at the moment all things considered that is going on in the United States right now. So props for the characterisation and showing that this guy believes in who he is and what he’s doing and by no means does he consider himself anything other than the countries greatest hero. I find it an interesting dynamic really considering who he works for and with, at least according to what we see within these pages. What Arthur manages to do very well here is set-up something where the character is a moral quandary and depending on your beliefs is how you're going to see his actions.
The interiors here are really rather nice. While I have a few questions about why eyes are white at times the body proportions and how we see the characters has a nice feel about them. I really love the linework here and how the varying weights are utilised to bring out the attention to detail. It does call a few things into question and makes me want to see more. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off a very solid eye for storytelling. I am very big on backgrounds and seeing them utilised and the way they are here makes me very happy. The colour here is very nicely done as well. The wood flooring, for example, took me by surprise but I love it, the way colour is used in gradation and highlighting is nice to see as well.
The way the characters are introduced and the primary role they will is being fleshed out nicely. I like that there is room for them to grow, change and realise things differently but for the moment however, there is a really good strong starting point for all them. I look forward to seeing how each of the roles is in reality instead of how the others see it but in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the heck out of the way they currently interact.
There is superb storytelling going on here, it engages the reader and you find the issue over and you’re in that whole wait what where’s the rest stage which is sensational in its own right.
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