Sunday, August 27, 2017

Review: MOONSHINE #1

MOONSHINE No. 1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally published on Patreon.]

WRITER: Brian Azzarello
ARTIST: Eduardo Risso
COLORS: Eduardo Risso
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Eduardo Risso
VARIANT COVER: Frank Miller
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (October 2016)

Rated M / Mature

Moonshine is a new comic book series from writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso, the creators of DC Comic's long-running crime comic book series, 100 Bullets.  Moonshine is set in the Prohibition era and involves moonshine, mobsters, and the supernatural.

Moonshine #1 opens in 1929 in Spine Ridge, West Virginia.  It is night, and three federal agent, Nash, Denton, and Miller, are looking for a still (illegal moonshine production facility).  What they find is a horrible end to their lives.

Lou Pirlo is a “torpedo” for gangster, Joe “The Boss” Masseria.  Lou's latest assignment from Masseria is to go deep into the backwoods of Appalachia where he is to negotiate a deal with Hiram Holt, who makes the best moonshine in West Virginia.  Neither Lou nor “The Boss” realize that Holt is both the best moonshiner and is just as cunning and as ruthless as any big city crime boss.  Holt also has a dark, supernatural secret that he must protect.

I first read 100 Bullets in paperback form, the first two paperbacks, in fact.  When I started reading 100 Bullets in monthly installments, I found that I did not enjoy the story quite as much as I did in collected form.  Like the first issues of comic book series created by top creators, Moonshine #1 offers just enough to whet your reader's appetite to come back for more.  It is intriguing, but I would not call this first issue an outstanding work of single-issue comic book craftsmanship.  Moonshine #1 will probably read better when read with the entire story arc.

I can say that Eduardo Risso is as good as ever.  His exceptional line work and the masterful brushwork on the inking create graphical storytelling in a compelling and exiting manner.  Risso's coloring accentuates the interplay of light and dark and cold and warm spaces in his compositions.

I cannot imagine not coming back for the next issue.  I can tell you, dear readers, that if you wish to wait for the trade paperback of the first story arc, it will be one helluva read if this series is anything like 100 Bullets.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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