Raze #1 is a comic written by Benjamin Willis with art by Tremayne Primm, Joshua Christian, Montis Echo Boeher, and VShane. A traffic jam on a bridge turns deadly as people get extremely violent. This is a science fiction thriller comic that is very violent and features a decently-sized cast. The four people in this car going somewhere are Bucky, Ian, Sarah, and Victoria. Bucky seems like a good dude, Ian is a bit of an a-hole, Sarah is kind, and Victoria has bad luck. There are a few other people here that standout in one way or another. The story begins with this group in a traffic jam of at least ten vehicles on a two-lane bridge. Due to anger at the lack of movement some of the drivers walk to the front to see what the hold up is, and apparently a car and a bus had a collision which is backing everything up. From here things take a violent turn. The action here is bloody, gory, and features some gruesome attacks. The pacing is steady with a casual, everyday tone at first but gets serious later. The intensity slower builds as the comic goes on. The dialogue is conversational and what you would hear during road rage-like incidents or when people have sat in traffic for too long. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that gives us a decent look at the different characters and has a story that will leave you with questions you’ll want answered.

            The art here is smoothly detailed, in black-and-white, and might remind you of the TV show Archer. When it comes to scenery there are mountains in the distance and we also get a couple glimpses of the water. The entirety of this story takes place on the Bear Mountain Bridge and for most of it the lead characters are outside of their car. Though it moves forward and backward on the bridge it all looks generally the same, which is to be expected. The backgrounds usually show the sky and distant mountains but occasionally it will be a color gradient or halftone-dotting. The expression level here is above-average as we get different looks on a near panel-by-panel basis. The emotions are all over the place from road rage-style anger to pure fear and terror with some sadness and confusion. The faces are detailed and show the expressions well, but the faces and bodies can seem flat. Sometimes the bodies move like paper dolls with the bending, leaning, and smushing. The action here is physical and very bloody with gruesome attacks that lead to body part separation mushy gore.. The action scenes have a good flow so you shouldn’t get tripped up.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories starring a thick cast of men and women with high danger and violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“No one is going anywhere for a bit.”

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 10, for 42% 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 – 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 – 5

“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 – 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.”