Tales of Ruination #1 is a comic written by Ryan Bis with line art by Elisabeth Mkheidze and colors by Kaytee Brown. An assassin undertakes what should be a straightforward mission but personal issues complicate things. This issue is a spinoff of the series Ruination focusing on the Fallen assassin named Keila; a woman we are well acquainted with at this point. Her mission encompasses this whole issue but there are a few surprises and detours in between. There is also quite a bit of a drama; a lot more than one might expect. Her being an assassin doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a lot of violence and death…but this issue has a bunch of violence and death. This story veers from fast to slow-paced frequently depending on the situation. Most of the dialogue is internal as Keila talks to herself constantly throughout this issue but we do get some conversations with other people. None of these pages get too wordy but sometimes going back-and-forth between the internal and external convos will trip you up. Overall this is a great issue that gives us a closer look at Keila and her life before Ruination; a life that doesn’t quite match up with her outward demeanor.

            At this point I haven’t even read the comic yet but the first page looks like older Red Sonja stories so I’m hyped already. Now having read this issue I can say that it has the look of a 70’s comic with that extra bit of grittiness. Most of the colors are faded are dark in tone which fits the story and the environment. The takes place in forests and inside stone buildings with the familiar medieval trappings. Expressions play a big part in this comic as there are moments where the words can’t get the point across by themselves. The eyes do a lot of heavy lifting here. The faces as a whole are drawn with details that give us glimpses into what these characters have been through. There is a lot of swordplay here and even fire joins the fray. I wouldn’t call the action here especially gory but it is very bloody. There are a lot of bloodstained clothes and very long fight scenes. There is a high amount of panels for the fight sequences which make them easier to follow. The outfits are medieval themed with the heavy armor fir the big boys and light clothing for those fleet of foot.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like character-focused stories starring a woman assassin who is very good at fighting taking place in a medieval fantasy land with drama this is for you.

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

R. Very bloody with some nasty strikes.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I did what I wasn’t supposed to do.”

 

Physical Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/ruination-1-physical-main-rio-burton-cover-jz8pg-5b222-pjtwn-zzsxw-7dcmn-474ht-82sla-mgc5f-pxz39

Digital Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/tales-of-ruination-1

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/curiousp/ruination-1-6/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 30

Violent Pages: 15, for 50% 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 – 4

“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 – 4

“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 – 4

“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.”