The Way Long Back #1 is a comic written and colored by Anthony Norris with inks by P. R. Dedelis. Two teenagers attempt to navigate a long distance relationship in the 90’s. This is a romance drama comic starring two young people who are going through the all-too-common ups and downs of life. The leading lady for this tale is Stefanie, she is a talented ballet dancer from Denver who is a year away from going off to college. The main man is Nicholas, he is from Russia and a grade behind Stefanie and he also enjoys dancing. While Stefanie comes from a more traditional family for Nicholas it is just him and his dad. The story begins at an afterschool dance class where Stefanie runs outside crying after some comments by another girl. Nicholas follows her outside to check on her and offers her some chocolate to cheer her up. This takes place in 1995-96 with the differences in technology between then and now being noticeable. There isn’t any violence here. The pacing is steady with a romantic drama/coming-of-age tone. There are a few dramatically and emotionally intense moments. The dialogue is conversational with Nicholas speaking in a Russian accent and there is a decent amount of Russian on the pages. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a debut issue that shows us the beginnings of a romantic relationship with all the joys and struggles that entails. There is a bonus one-page comic that focuses on Stefanie’s brother Lincoln.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed and slightly cartoonish style and is a bit reminiscent of late 90’s and early 2000’s comics. The color palette here is realistic with many of them being somewhat faded. For scenery we have a few rare shots of trees and the Rocky Mountains. The location changes frequently from the gym where they dance to houses and apartments and dorms. These different places help show the different world these people come from. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings like lockers in the hallway and pictures on walls, other times it’ll be solid color. The expression level here is high as Stefanie doesn’t hide how she feels though Nicholas is a bit more reserved. The emotions we’ll see here are sadness, happiness, irritation, annoyance, frustration, and some anger. The faces have a good amount of detail and show the different expressions clearly. There isn’t any violence or blood, and there aren’t any action scenes.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like romance dramas stories that star a couple of teenagers going through high school and college with ups and downs then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Language.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“And can you guys wait till you’re alone to suck face?”

 

Digital Link: https://burningstarcomics.net/product/the-way-long-back-1-digital/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hextle/the-way-long-back-1-a-90s-romance-drama/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): 32

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.”