Scattered Comics Triple Review

-Gregg Dietz @ChubRockGeek
Reviews Editor 

First and foremost, I want to apologize to Scattered Comics for taking as long as I have to write the review for these comics, a lot of life events prevented this so here now I present a triple review for 3 of their comic series.

Caliber Issues 1 & 2 by Shane Will

Tales of the Tomorrowverse Issues 1 & 2

The story to Caliber is interesting in that I can see a lot of influences from other sources. One glaring one is Batman. The main character, Caliber, was 4 when his father was killed by a thug and his mother trained him everyday till he was 18. Thats where the story picks up and now Caliber must defend Elmhurst City.

I was surprised by how much story already existed in this world. There is a planned story that will unfold and play out over the course of the series. There are few cliche things here and there, but I find with cliches, the best ones make for fun stories. The main character has this inner turmoil because he wants to please his mother but also as a newly 18 year old, he gains freedom and damn her if he’s going to waste that.

My gripe with it is the art, I hate to be that reviewer who bashes someone’s elses art, so I will do my best to be constructive. I do like how he uses shading in scenes but the way Shane draws full bodies is a bit off putting. Everyone stands with their arms out as if they are all 3D models in a computer. If Shane happens to read this, I would suggest that he do more close ups and concentrate on faces and action shots because that seems to be what he excels at.

This is an anthology series from Scattered comics and has 3 short stories in each issue. The first issue starts with a short story about how Caliber got is name by Shane Will. The second story is about a hero named Tomorrow with a lot of super powers, enhanced hearing, superhuman strength, flight, and empathy projection. Tomorrow fights a T-Rex who was given a larger brain in an attempt to make it domesticated. This was a fun one as it was clearly meant as a silly take on superheroes of today. The 3rd was Schools Out by Joe Burttram and Shane Will. This short was about a girl who had developed powers passed down from her grandfather who discovered his powers during world war 2.

The second issue was the same as the first in that there are 3 more short stories, however they are of different characters. The first is titled A Quiet Stroll and stars a hero named Horizon created by Joe Burttram and art by Nicholas Garza. The story follows a man who is kidnapped. He reveals himself to be Horizon and beats the kidnappers using powers. It seems that Horizon has some kind of elemental powers as he changes into stone, then air but that seemed to be it.

The second story was what seemed like a punk rock music video in comic form. The Ballad of horror punk, Story and art by Shane Will, follows a kid who finds he has a demon inside him and it will one day rise. This was not my cup of tea but I did appreciate the creativity. The third story is A Snake in the Dark written and drawn by Shane Will. This is a story about a superhero named Brake who also happens to be muslim and stops an assassination attempt. I really liked the idea of the anthology of stories. It harkens back to the old days of comics when they threw whatever they could at the wall just to see what would stick. My gripes are the same as with Caliber. The stories are good but the art needs improvement.

Love Havoc #1 by Bex Kurasai

The plot to this story is about a young man named Grey who is dealing with the death of his younger sister by the hands of a large dragon demon. He doesn’t know if he can trust anyone and everything feels disjointed to him. All he thinks about every waking minute is her and every dream is him reliving this nightmare. A young woman shows up to help him but she isn’t explicit on why she’s there. It isn’t until the demon finds Grey and almost kills him, sending him to purgatory. The young girl who has been following him tells him he has 2 choices, die or be her human slave.

The art in this is tremendous. I enjoyed every panel due to Bex showing you the mind of a young man who feels like his life is a spiraling mess. It also is strongly influenced by Japanese manga. I would have loved to see color in the images as that might have brought some interesting contrast to the imagery. My gripe is that it was a little too disjointed. As I did enjoy that about the issue, I felt lost and confused. If that was the intent, kudos, very well done. I just would have liked a little more clarity on what was happening.

Well thats folks, all 5 comics laid out before you. If you wish to check out any of the above comics, please go to ScatteredComics.com. Follow them on twitter @ScatteredComics, and on their Facebook Fan Page.

Are you planning on picking up these issues? Have you read any and what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below, on our facebook fan page or tweet us @MissionStartP.

Thanks for reading