Red Ram: Toxic Suicide #1 is a comic written by Paul Rashid M.D. with art by JC Grande and colors by Santosh Rath. Under the cover of darkness and in a high-tech suit, a lone man patrols the streets. This is a crimefighting comic starring a dark hero in a gritty world. The hero in question is the Red Ram, real name RJ Ronaldson. He is described as a “tech-titan” and is a gloomy, brooding guy. We’ll also meet an ICU doctor and a lawyer for the company Green Futures. The story begins with a look at the city and one of the residents within it. Afterwards we get a look at our hero without the mask and begin to learn about his troubles. This takes place in West Palm Beach, Florida, and almost entirely at night. There are also some environmental issues that are very pressing at the moment. There isn’t much in the way of action here, no blood or gore at all. The pacing is steady and the tone is very serious as this is a dark comic. The intensity is high in the various situations and some of them border on melodramatic in the dialogue and reactions. There is only one word-heavy page. This is a debut comic that sets the groundwork for a dark story in a dark place with a dark hero.

            The art here just screams 90’s from the style to the coloring to the shading. We do get a decent range of colors but most lean towards the dark end of the spectrum. The scenery is tall buildings which can be expected from this specific genre. The atmosphere is gloomy and heavy with the sky varying from black to dark blue. The main location is RJ Ronaldson’s penthouse with both a hospital and various rooftops being visited. The backgrounds do a great job at having parts of the scene in them which adds to the moments. The expression level here is average to slightly below. Many of the characters here are stoic or seem disconnected so the look variety is low with the main emotion being anger. The faces have a decent level of with the quality varying from panel-to-panel. The action scenes here have good flow and there is no violence. The Red Ram’s costume looks like a cross between the Punisher and Daredevil.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like dark, brooding superheroes in a story taking place almost entirely at night with a gloomy, heavy atmosphere than this is for you.

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

PG-13. Subject matter.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“He was my problem. Now, he is the world’s problem.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicbookcollector/the-red-ram-toxic-suicide-1-comic-book/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 23

Violent Pages: 0, for 0% 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 – 1

“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 – 1

“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 – 1

“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.”