COMIXOLOGY/Polite Strangers
Kickstarter campaign to support Sucker is here.
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
PLOT: Jason McNamara and Tony Talbert
SCRIPT: Jason McNamara
PENCILS: Tony Talbert
INKS: John Heebink
COLORS: Paul Little
LETTERS: Jason McNamara
EDITOR: John Heebink
MISC. ART: Brian Wood (logo); Tony Talbert with Stephen Buell; Justin Greenwood with Paul Little; Greg Hinkle; Tony Talbert and John Heebink with Paul Little
ISBN: 978-1-5323-8060-0; paperback (July 2018)
66pp., Color, $9.95
Age: 17+ Only / Mature Readers
Sucker is a vampire comic book series published by comiXology as part of its “comiXology Originals.” Sucker: Book One is written by Jason McNamara (plot/script) and Tony Talbert (plot); drawn by Talbert and John Heebink (inks); colored by Paul Little; and lettered by McNamara. The series follows a band of vampire hunters forced to suddenly reunite when a powerful, ass-kicking vampire reawakens.
Sucker: Book One – Living After Midnight opens on the upper east side of Manhattan. Two clownish thieves accidentally awaken a slumbering vampire, Douglas Jacobs, once upon a time a successful stock trader in the 1980s. He had not been seen since 1988, but now he is back for a mysterious reason bigger than his own wants.
Enter hard-ass vampire hunter, Clyde Benton, and fellow vampire slayer, the brass knuckle-wielding priest, Father Harrison. They have been called back into service by “Frontier Innovations” and its taciturn Director Sullivan to take down Jacobs. This time, however, this hugely successful vampire-smashing unit faces a monster that is (1) most resourceful and (2) very hard to kill.
Don't think of Sucker: Book One as some kind of small press, indie, or self-published comic book. Think of it as what it is – highly-polished, high-octane genre entertainment. Its script is probably of better quality than any Syfy original horror films, and is as good or even better in some cases than the writing on straight-to-DVD, VOD, and streaming horror entertainment.
In the case of Jason McNamara's script, I can trot out many of the slang declarations used to describe exciting action movies: hellraisin', rip-snortin', balls-to-the-wall, etc. When it comes to the story's internal mythology, McNamara drops it here and there throughout this first book in a way that both teases and intrigues. However, the action is so frenetic that the reader will have other things to occupy his attention.
That artist Tony Talbert co-plots this first issue shows in the page-by-page and panel-by-panel flow of the explosive action scenes, which are thrilling to behold and bracing to read. Talbert's graphical storytelling and graphic design of individual pages are advanced enough to make me wonder why he has not produced more work for the bigger publishers. John Heebink's precision inking seems to streamline some of the wildness in Talbert's storytelling, while directing its power right at the reader. For instance, the characters' emotions are wild and aggressive, but it reads as being genuine rather than as being over the top. Heebink's inking also sharpens the inventiveness in Talbert's illustrations. There are some exceptionally visually striking images in Sucker: Book One (especially those involving the vampire's “union” with vermin). They are clear, rather than impressionistic.
It would be a sin to not acknowledge the coloring by Paul Little, which is often spectacular in this first book. Sometimes, it is muted and reminds me of the coloring in DC Comics' 1970's horror comics, (House of Mystery, Swamp Thing). Other times, Little's hues have the rich and vibrant quality that a talented artist can get using modern coloring techniques.
I must admit that I only sought out Sucker: Book One because I am a fan of inker John Heebink's work going back to Metacops! (Fantagraphics Books), an odd, sci-fi comic book he drew back in the early 1990s. My fanboy inclinations were rewarded, as I am shocked by how much I like Sucker: Book One. I practically tore through it once I started reading. It is one of the best of the recent vampire comic books, along with Jonathan Maberry and Tyler Crook's Bad Blood (Dark Horse Comics).
I recommend Sucker: Book One – Living After Midnight without reservation to fans of horror comic books, especially to fans of vampire comics and fiction. One might even say I now have a blood lust for Sucker: Book Two.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
http://jason-mcnamara.com/
John Heebink: https://twitter.com/JohnHeebink
By Sucker Volume 1 at comiXology.
The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
--------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment