Bonecrusher #1: No Fluteing Around! is a comic written by Grzegorz Babiszewski with art by Marcin Medzinski and colors by Jan Krusinski. The kingdom of Polania is in disarray and finds itself looking for a champion. This is an issue that introduces us to this world and the conflict within. Though the Bonecrusher is the title character I’m not sure if see them in this comic at all. The main person driving the plot is King Krak, as his acts and orders lead the kingdom down an interesting path. The story here establishes the world by taking real history and altering it a bit. The action does get bloody and there are some gruesome shots. The pacing is a bit slow as there is very little dialogue but plenty of narration. If you’ve ever read or seen anything medieval themed then you can easily grasp how it all sounds. The tone is slightly serious but it won’t seem very intense. There aren’t any wordy pages but narration reads a bit slower than dialogue. This is a comic that a does a good job of building the world and the tension but it ends right before giving us a taste.

            The art looks like a blend of 70’s comics and something out of a medieval history book. Everything looks soft from the linework to the colors, and the narration bubbles have stains on them as if you were reading from an old textbook. The scenery looks like it be framed and put on the wall with its rolling hills and multicolored skies. The location changes form page and frequently from panel-to-panel. The backgrounds are normally part of the scene except when the panel is giving a close-up on an object. The expression level is slightly below-average as the faces aren’t normally focused on and lack the detail to get the look across. Body language does a decent amount of the lifting here so you shouldn’t be confused about their emotions. The action scenes are short and they don’t get too rough but there are some post-conflict moments that get bloody and gruesome. The outfits here look like something out of Robin Hood.

“Is this worth reading?”

Sure, if this is directly up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you look medieval-themed comics with fantasy elements that build out a world than this is for you.

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

R. Death, blood, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Verpistiss, I musst have her!”

 

GlobalComix Link: https://globalcomix.com/c/bonecrusher/chapters/en/2/1

 

***** I received this review copy for free. *****

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 11

Violent Pages: 3, for 27% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 9% of the comic

 

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

 

Violence Level – 2

“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 – 2

“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.”