#IReadsYou Review: HASS #3

HASS #3
APPROBATION COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER/CREATOR: B. Alex Thompson – @ApproBAT
PENCILS: Edgard Machiavello
INKS: Victor Moya
COLORS: Alivon Ortiz
LETTERS: Krugos
MISC. ART: Cesar Grego
COVERS: Cesar Grego
32pp, Color, $9.99 U.S. (2019)

Hass is a racial drama and crime thriller comic book miniseries from Approbation Comics.  Hass is written and created by B. Alex Thompson.  The third issue is drawn by Edgard Machiavello (pencils) and Victor Moya (inks); colored by Alivón Ortiz; and lettered Krugos.

Hass is the story of Joshua “Josh” Jones, a freshman attending a college “deep in the heart of Texas.”  First day on campus, Josh falls in love with fellow student, Maggie Stewart, but he has to work hard to get Maggie to give him a chance at romance.  This relationship forces Josh to confront violence and racism... and a tattoo.  Before long, Josh is hanging out with Maggie's racist, drug-dealing cousin, Cole, and his gang of misfits: Rocky (or “Shamrock”), Vargas, Gavin, and Sharky.

Hass #3 opens a few months after the events depicted in the first two issues.  Josh is firmly ensconced with Cole's gang, which sees him participating in a little gay bashing.  Josh's Aunt Yvonne, Maggie, and his roommate, Asher, all try to direct Josh's activities in a more positive direction.  But when he experiences racism from the “Black side,” how will Josh react?  And will it pull him deeper into Cole's criminal and racist world.

THE LOWDOWN:  In my review of Hass #2, I noted that the copy on the back cover of the first two issues describes Hass as “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet” meets American History X” (the 1998 film).  That is accurate... up to a point.  Hass is a powerful work of fiction that defies easy description

B. Alex Thompson, creator of the long-running indie, comedy-horror comic book series, Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls vs. Zombies, has created a scenario that allows him to explore various themes emerging from racism, as well as the violence that racism inspires or to which it directly leads.  Thompson explores the consequences of violence and its aftermath, and he also depicts the myriad ways in which racism, prejudice, and bigotry reveal themselves.

Cover artist Cesar Grego once again delivers cover art that explodes in the readers' faces with bold and unapologetic images and ideas.  Pencil artist Edgard Machiavello is also bold and unapologetic in delivering graphical storytelling that takes Thompson's dangerous ideas and keeps them dangerous.  Inker Victor Moya embellishes, but does not tame Machiavello's pencils.  As usual, Alivón Ortiz's colors accentuate the story by giving the art the heat, and Krugos' lettering captures the subversiveness of this narrative by keeping an even pace that does not let the action move the story too quickly.

I have never read another comic book that has explored American racism and prejudice in such a unique and complex way as Hass does.  Hass is bold and different in ways that other comic books would not dare be.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers looking for bold comic book storytelling and for the very best in comic books will want Hass.

10 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/ApproBAT
http://alexthompsonwriter.com/
https://www.comixology.com/Approbation-Comics/comics-publisher/7396-0
www.ApprobationComics.com

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