So, I just finished reading issue #3 of From Blood, from Cosmic Times. I supported this series on Kickstarter on their issue 1 campaign, where I was able to secure one of the foil covered variants of the book. Somehow, I missed the Kickstarter campaign for issue #2, but I made up for it on the Issue #3 campaign and picked up all 3 issues.
Story, Script, Pencils & Inks By: Zach Bassett -- Story & Inks By: James Whynot -- Script & Edits By: Martin T. Pierro -- Colors By: Victorino Muyo JR -- Letters By: Michael Moore -- Published By: Cosmic Times
First off, From Blood is a little different from the books
that I’ve seen come out of Cosmic Times.
In the past I had considered Cosmic Times to be more of a “family friendly” publisher that
steers away from the heavy violence, blood and profanity. Other than the profanity being bleeped out,
From Blood covers all the rest of the bases that they had steered away from in
the past.
The story opens in a mental institution where Dr. Reese is
trying to make some sense of her patient, Patient 27, who has not spoken in 10
years and is prone to violent fits of rage.
As Dr. Reese attempts to make an emotional connection with Patient 27, she
discovers that Patient 27 apparently can not be harmed—his body is
indestructible. Key the violent riot,
and suddenly Dr. Reese and Patient 27 are escaping the mental institution to find
out what gave him his strength, and what terrible sins it is that he is hiding
from. All the while, the couple is being
chased by a covert government agency hell bent on unlocking Patient 27’s power
for their own diabolical schemes.
The cover art was the first thing that drew my attention to From Blood. It shows Patient 27 crouched, with a powerful stare that is meant to instill fright, and his body appears to be covered in blood. A lot of questions stirred in me, mostly that I wanted to see if this character had any depth or if this was just another gore filled splatter book? But before I get to that, let me stay on the art. I love the artwork. It is readable. I can’t say that about every indie comicbook that I read, either. It’s clear what’s happening in every panel, and the art tells the story even when text is not present. That’s what makes good comic book art. That being said, it certainly didn’t hurt at all that the line work, and colors in From Blood are spot on also. The use of all the “cool” tones sets to mood for the emotion that Patient 27 is experiencing—it puts you in the mental institution. Great work by the art team.
So, on the outside, yeah, the squabble for a super soldier
serum kind of storyline has been done a million times over, so what makes From
Blood stand out? It’s the characters. Each character had a well thought out
personality and back story that adds to the suspense and the twist to the arc. Dr. Reese, a divorcee that struggles with her
own insecurities in her life choices and her faith—Marco carrying a heap of
guilt and uncertainty in his actions against his friend—and of course Patient 27
and the source of all his rage and his drive—each character has an interesting part
to play in this story and in turn engages the reader to root for them. I can’t say this enough, characters are what
make a good story.
If I had to pick on something in From Blood, (which I don’t
have to, but I will for the sake of balance), it would be the final antagonist
in the story. I found him to be bland in
design and his back story was too much evil political scientist that somehow appears
to have a license to do whatever he wants.
To me From Blood is a character driven story, and the villain’s
character just felt a little blah compared to the rest of the cast.
This series is a solid 4.5 out of 5 Stars for me. A very entertaining read that I'm proud to have supported. I would highly recommend you give this title a chance and consider checking out more titles from Cosmic Times!
Where to Find it: http://cosmictimes.net/shop/
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