A Safe Space Volume 1 is a comic written by Anthony Garcon with art by Rick Moraes and Roden Ray. A ragtag group of mercenaries get involved with a very large and dangerous organization. This is a futuristic science fiction comic with a lot of drama, alien races, humor, failed plans, and violence. The group members are: Travis, the fast-talking and comedic leader, Tasha, an ex-cop with a suit that grants her super strength, Vince, a swordsman with two blades, Vega, a skilled fighter who likes to use guns, Clayton, a genius young kid, and the newest and most reluctant member, JD. This story begins at a hotel which is now a crime scene because a senator has fallen from a balcony in what looks like a murder. Inside the hotel JD runs into Travis and a stressful situation turns violent. This leads to the rest of the mercenaries arriving to save the day. This takes place in a futuristic world where space travel has taken large steps forward and multiple planets are visited. The violence here is brutal, gruesome, gory, and bloody and you’ll see body parts all over the place. The pacing speeds ups and slows down depending on the situation with a good balance overall. The tone varies depending on the kind of mission they are on from stealthy excursions to prison scenarios even to superhero-like battles in the street. There are many intense moments from the dramatic and emotional to the violent and dangerous. The dialogue has a lot of back-and-forth with a good dose of humor, insults, quips, real world references, and explanations. I don’t think are any word-heavy pages here. This is a lengthy graphic novel that does a good job of delivering exciting action, strong characters, and a story that will keep engaged and on your toes.
The art here is drawn in a detailed but slightly cartoonish style with strong shading. The color palette is huge and there is usually a good variety on each page. The scenery changes a lot as some planets have strange characteristics like floating masses of earth and others are just concrete jungles, space itself with stars and moons regularly acts as a backdrop. The main location is the headquarters for this group of mercenaries which is a skyscraper with multiple rooms, a kitchen, and a balcony overlooking the city. Some of the different places visited are the aforementioned, hotel, a strip club, a prison, many spaceships, psyches, homes, and dreams. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings like the sky or buildings in the distance but on occasion it’ll just be a gradient or some other color that fits the situation. The expression level here is very high as we’ll see a bevy of looks that do as much heavy lifting as the words. Just about every possible emotion is displayed here from happiness, anger, and confusion, to embarrassment, shock, and sadness. The faces have a decent to good amount of detail and they can get animated so all the different expressions come across clearly. There are many different creatures from the sentient to beast-like. The different mystical/technological effects tend to shine bright on the page and are eye-catching. The violence is delivered in all sorts of manners from the physical to the gun-based and even with blades. The action here has many gruesome attacks which lead to explosive and gratuitous gore along with a large amount of blood. You will see body parts all over the place. The action scenes come in bursts from long to short and they are frequent. They feature a good amount of panels overall and usually flow smoothly.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like futuristic science fiction stories starring a large cast of black people, white guys, alien ladies and little kids that features heavy, gory violence along with deep, messy drama and a good dose of humor and real world references then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gore, nudity, sexual situations.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“He beat you like you stole sum.”
Digital Link: https://www.blackbirdanimations.com/product-page/a-safe-space-volume-1-digital-edition
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackbirdanm/a-safe-space-vol-1/description
Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-safe-space-volume-1/x/26236710#/
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 310
Violent Pages: 71, for 23% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 9, for 3% 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 – 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 – 4
“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 – 4
“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.”
