Double Out #1 is a comic created by Ryan Hulcy, written by Brian Hawkins, with art and lettering by Fernando Maiarú and Estanislao Marugo. A former professional dart player has fallen on hard times. This is a futuristic tale about sports and the fall from grace with the hope of redemption. The main man for this story is Jin, a former pro dart player who is now playing darts in bars for money. He has a family he doesn’t see and shady people he owes money to. The story begins with the aforementioned dart competition in the bar where Jin is down and needs a bullseye to win. From here we get a look at Jin’s life now and slight glimpses of what is used to be. This takes place in our modern world with some futuristic elements but not so much that it looks completely different. The action is physical with a little blood but no gore. The pacing is steady with a serious tone and things get more intense towards the end. The dialogue has a bunch of ellipses and double dashes which break up the sentences and make them a slightly rougher read. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that gives us a unique world starring down-and-out character who is trying to get back at least some of their former glory.
The art here is drawn in the modern style with some good shading and a bit of that smoothness. There are a large amount of colors here, and with this being futuristic some are neon and others electric. This takes place in the inner city so the scenery is tall buildings, some of them a bit rough, and dirty alleys. The primary locations are the bar where everything starts, an alley, and an office. The backgrounds are about 50-50 between showing part of the scene and being a gradient color. The expression level here is above-average with Jin going through a gamut of emotions. The range of looks mostly sad and desperate as Jin is going through it. The faces are well detailed so that every feeling comes across clear. The mouths are noticeably closed when they talk more often than which can throw you off. The effects can look both electric and ethereal at the same time. The violence here is physical with blood but nothing nasty. The action scenes are short and the flow is good. The overall outfit selection is modern with cyberpunk influence.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, unless you don’t like darts.
“Would I like this?”
If you like sports stories, darts specifically starring a former pro that is down on their luck and involving shady deals and violence with light supernatural elements then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG. Violence.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“…used to be a player…heck happen to him…?”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanhulcy/double-out-issue-1-0/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24
Violent Pages: 4, for 17% 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 – 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 – 2
“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.”
