Ruination #4 is a comic created by Ryan Bis and published by Curious Perspective Comics. This issue gives us backstory on the crystals, the war, and some other important details. This is the exposition issue. But it’s not all words and flashbacks, there is also action! While we do get answers to a few questions we might have had from our previous readings, this story will leave you wanting answers due to things alluded to but not explained. The characters the story focuses on this time around are Keila, Jalen, and Nairi. Nairi has not gotten as much screen time as the others so it was nice to get a better understanding of what her whole deal is. A good amount of characterization is done for our cast and this helps make them feel like full-fledged people. There are quite a bit of wordy pages but this is an info dump issue so that’s to be expected. There is a decent amount of action with a few plot-important moments taking place that give us a glimpse at what’s to come.

            This entire story aside from the flashback takes place in the crystal-colored world we ended the last issue in. Everything is glistening. The characters here are pleasantly expressive, with an assortment of different faces they make and using their whole body make a point. The outfits are still regular fantasy garb dependent on their “class” but they still have style. Excusing Jalen’s fade, everybody has some flowing hair, especially the ladies. No exotic weaponry here, just swords and spears. There are some nice magical effects here and are drawn very well. The fight scenes have a good flow and have a nice rhythm to the action. Overall this is a good-looking comic.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

A fantasy tale with a large main cast and a story with some guts? Might wanna check this out.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“What? Crystal said it, not me.”

 

Physical Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/ruination-1-physical-main-rio-burton-cover-jz8pg-5b222-pjtwn

Digital Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/ruination-4-digital

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/curiousp/ruination-1-4/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 27

Violent Pages: 11, for 41% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”