Damsel from D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S. #5 is a comic written by Andrew Clemson with art by Mauricio Mora. Bec and her team find themselves surrounded by the undead as they face off against a necromancer. This is a tale full of exciting combat and conversations while providing a satisfying end to this first volume of this series. Our leading lady for this tale is Rebecca “Bec” Flashjoy, an agent of D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S. who finds herself dealing with family drama that is threatening the world at large. Accompanying her is Dave, a prospective Knight, Brunhilde, a shield-maiden for the dwarf princess, and Estrid, the princess in question. After finishing one aspect of her mission the new path has lead Bec and her team into the lair of a necromancer intent on increasing their power. Due to a betrayal they must now find a way out of this increasingly dire situation. There is a lot of action here with nearly every other page being violent with an instance of gore. This is an intense story with themes of deep hurt and just plain anger, but there some more uplifting and smile-forming moments. Though this is a fantasy the dialogue is pretty modern. While one page does get a little heavy there are no wordy pages. This comic ties up all the loose ends and provides us with an interesting and satisfactory conclusion.
The art here is drawn in a style that focuses on the smaller details and handles movement very well. Colors are less vibrant than earlier issues for story reasons; they find themselves in a hall with very unnatural light so everything is a bit gray. The comic takes place entirely in this one room with flashbacks occasionally taking us out. There is also some art that looks unfinished and pulled straight from a sketch book that is used for certain moments and it increases the impact. This is a very expressive comic which makes the seriousness of the situation hit harder. Characters have different expressions on nearly a panel-by-panel basis. The faces are full of the little things that make them seem alive which helps the emotions come across well. The weapons on display are common to fantasy stories like swords and bows. The action scenes come in bursts and usually feature blood with death not being off the table. The gore is only on one page and it’s heat-based. The outfits here look like something you’d see in most D&D artwork.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like fantasy tales starring women and dealing with evil necromancers and family drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Blood, gore, and death.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“But I thought I could save my own papa.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewclemson/damsel-from-distress-issues-1-5/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26
Violent Pages: 12, for 46% 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 – 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 – 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.”
