Knightwrath #1 is a comic written by Daniel Kalban with art by Gabe “Eskivo” Santos, David A. Rivera, and Daniel ERM. Joe patrols the streets of New York as the hulking monstrosity Knightwrath. This is a noir science fiction comic with a dark atmosphere and a brooding lead. The main man is Joe Sutton, he was an office worker who underwent strange experiments and now he has the ability to transform into a creature with super-strength and high-durability among other things. The story begins with Joe as Knightwrath saving a family from a robber and afterwards we get a flashback of Joe pre-transformation. Through the course of this comic we will learn why and how he was experimented on. The violence here gets bloody with a lot of the gruesome attacks not shown onscreen. The pacing is steady with the fight scenes moving faster and the tone is very serious and slightly gloomy. There is a high intensity throughout as danger seems to lurk around every corner. The dialogue is delivered in three ways, normal tone from Joe, aggressive from Knightwrath, and noir-style narration from Joe. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that gives us a well-rounded look at the lead as well as the state of the city he lives in and provides a glimpse of what he’ll be going up against.

            The art here is reminiscent of late 90s early 2000s comics from the overall detailing to the gritty shading. Even the color palettes will remind you of the grim and dark comics from that time. The atmosphere here is very dark and with some gloom. Due to this taking place entirely in New York City the scenery is tall buildings and dark alleys. Knightwrath patrols the city so he isn’t staying in one spot but a couple of the places Joe visits include a lab and his apartment building. The backgrounds are split between a gradient color and actually showing the surroundings of the scene. The expression level here is on the lower end as everyone usually looks stone-faced or angry. There are some fearful and pained emotions that are on display here. The faces have a good amount of detail when they aren’t heavily shaded so all the expressions come across clearly. Knightwrath sort of looks like a purple Venom with similar abilities. The violence here is bloody with implied gruesome attacks and aggressive grabbing. The action scenes and have good flow with a decent amount of panels. All the men here are built/brolic and like to wear tight clothes or be shirtless.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like noir science fiction stories with a dark atmosphere, brooding lead, and violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“No. You’re getting a second chance.”

 

Digital Link: https://atlasstudioscomics.square.site/product/knightwrath-issue-1-digital-/27

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americandreamscomic/knightwrath-1-a-90s-influenced-antihero-adventure/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 12, for 50% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 4% of the comic

 

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

 

Violence Level – 4

“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.”