Review - The Mercenary Sea #1 

Review by Paul Fiander
To Catch up with spoiler filled art from the first Six pages of The Mercenary Sea #1  check out our gallery. Warning there will be spoilers so be prepared to be spoiled.
Nice Work if you can get it.
This is a front cover to savour. We do not have high detailed art instead we get a simplistic view of the world of the Mercenary Sea. Somehow though it’s oddly captivating. It brings back thoughts of comics in my youth, maybe this is why I think this is one the best covers I have seen in a while.

As we carry on through the issue the art stays the same. Matthew Reynolds colours his own art in this issue and does a great job. Each section draws from its own colour palette varying from cool blues to vibrant pinks and reds. The colour usage seems to be at the expense of detailed backgrounds but in this story it just seems to work. The art may not be for all and the preview pages (here) show off his work wonderfully well. The flashback sequence is one page not to miss as it really works to highlight the different colour palette.

The story is not one I can’t really explain, not only as that would ruin the twists but I’m not sure if I can fully follow exactly what’s happing. It’s not that its complicated just a lot of characters are thrown at us in this issue from the first page. In the beginning we get do get a sort of team introduction as a landing party start to explore an island but from that point all bets are off as to what happens next. The crew are a varied mix of characters and may be a little too familiar. From a Tomboy mechanic to a socially inept science type of guy every character feels like they can be expanded on but this needs to happen sooner rather later.

Each transition of the story is marked by a piece of torn parchment in the top left hand corner; it’s well-crafted and tells what we need to know in the overall geography of the plot. With all these jumps I’m not sure I’m completely sold on the story. This is defiantly a series that seems it can build but this opening stanza seems like it lacks story depth. I’m willing to stowaway for a few issues on the Mercenary Sea but it will need to get to a point in the near future for me to totally endorse it.

For more comics set in the recent past you could try 

Deadly Class #1

The eighties is still a way a ways from 1938 but Rick Remenders Deadly class is a great read.
Lobster Johnson; Get the Lobster #1

Set a little earlier the Mercenary Sea, Lobster Johnson still has a strong 30's vibe.
The Comic is available in both print and digital from Image comics. Follow this link for more details.
Images courtesy of Image Comics
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