Blazing Blade of Frankenstein #1 is a comic written by Clay Adams with art by Kyle Roberts and colors by Ilaria Chiocca. After traveling through a portal a troubled man finds himself risking his life to save another. This is a comic that blends a classic work with some familiar fantasy while giving us a compelling story. Our main man is Adam Frankenstein, a man created using various parts who has done many things he regrets. Our leading lady is Empress Maggie, a woman who is being pursued by the forces of the Dark Prince. We start off with Adam reflecting on his life up to this point before he hears the cries of help from Maggie. From there things move from earth to another world that has some similarities. This story has a theme of redemption with some vengeance feels. The action here gets very bloody and brutal with physical damage at a high. The pacing here is steady with a nice mix of light flashbacks present-day events. Things start off intense and remain that throughout with a slight lull. The dialogue sounds like something from a classic English novel or a high fantasy comic from the 70’s. A few pages do get word heavy. This is a great debut comic that will have you fully invested in these two characters and it has a story that you’ll be interested in seeing continue.
The art here looks like they took the style of classic fantasy comics like Red Sonja and Conan but modernized it. This is well-colored and has a realistic(for the time period) range though the more supernatural elements tend to stand out. The scenery we get at first is very icy with hills crevices but the story will eventually end up in a rocky, possibly barren location with the sun shining down. The different environments can be felt due to things such as frozen rope in the cold and the twisted and leafless trees in the sun. The expression level here is high and we’ll see characters go through multiple looks on a single page. The faces are full of strong features which only become stronger when closer to the page. Many of the emotions the characters show can be felt, and the range goes from shock and terror to fear and anger. The creatures look like classic werewolves; they are anthropomorphic with clawed hands. There are a couple larger action sequences with little moments in-between. Things get slightly gory and very bloody with some attacks that might make you queasy.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like fantasy tales starring a man and a woman with supernatural elements and also references to classic literature such as Frankenstein with a revenge and redemption element this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Blood, light gore, deaths.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Then you’ve never encountered Black Magic before.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/900595556/blazing-blade-of-frankenstein-1/description
Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/blazing-blade-of-frankenstein-1/x/26236710#/
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 25
Violent Pages: 11, for 44% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 8% 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 – 2
“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.”
