CREDIT: Red 5 Comics
Rating: 4/5 – Red 5 Spins Post-Apocalyptic Tales.
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.
In the opening pages of The Dark Age, a mysterious gray mist descends on the Earth and dissolves all metal to dust. Society breaks down. Then the story time jumps to 13 years later where the world has devolved into feudal states, roving bands of cannibals, etc.
The 16 pages presented in this FCBD book focuses on a Father (who was fortunately a professor who specialized in studying ancient cultures and their survival methods) and his son/daughter, facing just a few of the perils of this new world. This is a good setup and gives a taste for what these people will be facing in the new Dark Ages. What makes it more interesting to me is the list of consultants for the story: An associate professor of Anthropology and Archaeology, a PhD sudent in Medieval Studies, and a medical consultant. This tells me that writer Don Handfield and artist Leonard Rodrigues are making a decent attempt at accurately portraying the regressed world instead of just making up stuff that “seems right”.
If this sounds like the kind of story you like, it will be worth looking for. You can ask your Local Comic Shop to order issue #1 for you, out in July and solicited in the current Previews as MAY191885.
The second story in the issue is an 8 page taste of the work of Afterburn (“Soon to be a major motion picture!”, we are told). This is another post-apocalyptic setting. Two years prior to the events in this story a massive solar flare hit the day side of Earth (which at that point was Europe/Africa/Asia) killing most living things and mutating what it didn’t kill. That’s the world building part, which we get from some set-up text, but is not featured in the story, which is primarily a heist focusing on a group of raiders who are going into Moscow to get some Faberge eggs for a Russian millionaire and who have a run in with local mutants which makes it a bit more challenging than just walking in and taking them.
This is an interesting take on the post-apocalyptic in that it doesn’t just focus on basic survival, instead telling tales of adventuring in the altered world. The current series of this being published as single issues, is called “Afterburn: Crossfire” and issue #3 is in the current May Previews catalog as MAY191884.
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
http://comicspectrum.com/ By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics
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