The Routine #1 is a comic written by John O. Burke with flats by Hafid “Lupo” Ardi and art and colors by Tyler Stegall-Smith. The Grand Jadu and his henchmen are attempting to rob a hardware store. This is a gritty supernatural comic with drama, humor, and a large amount of violence. The main man here is Assistant 436, he is a henchman who works for the villainous magician the Grand Jadu. 436 hangs around two other henchmen, the gruff 9 and more chill 272. There are strong personalities here with some interesting interactions. The story begins in the Fix-Itz store where the Grand Jadu is attempting to steal dynamite. Standing in his way is the shift supervisor Brett, and this places him in immediate danger. The violence can get very gory with limb removal and a significant amount of blood. The pacing here is a bit slower than average as there can be a lot to take in visually. The tone is gritty and serious with a real life feel. There many intense moments due to violence and danger. The dialogue is split between being back-and-forth conversations and narration of 436’s thoughts. There are a lot of rapid-fire small text bubbles and one word-heavy page. This is a debut issue that presents a rarely seen perspective of a familiar situation and provides us with excitement and something to think about.

            The art here is detailed and gritty with a style reminiscent of 80’s/90’s alt comics. The color range here is very wide with a relatively realistic palette. Most of this story takes place inside buildings so for scenery we have quick exterior shots and skylines. The main locations are the hardware store and the criminal headquarters of the Grand Jadu. We don’t get a good look around the store but we’ll see many different areas of the villains’ base. The backgrounds either show the immediate surroundings or are a gradient color, sometimes with multiple tones. The expression level here is around average as most of the main characters wear a mask. The emotional range consists of fear, confusion, happiness, and shock. The faces are unique, detailed, and show the different looks clearly. The violence here is mostly physical with some weapons like flamethrowers and guns being used. There is a notable amount of blood but way more gore as a result of gruesome attacks. The action scenes feature a good amount of panels with a somewhat smooth flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural stories with a gritty look and feel that star a interesting cast of characters and features drama, humor, and a high amount of violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, gore, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“What kind of supervisor are you?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theroutine/the-routine-1/description

 

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

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 28

Violent Pages: 5, for 18% 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 – 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 – 3

“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.”