The Doctor #1 is a comic written by Brian Brandow with art and colors by Van Mac. A man called The Doctor acts as a therapist for superpowered people. This is a superhero science fiction comic that is drama-focused while still bringing some action. The main man here is called The Doctor, real name Mike Miller, he has super strength and he hosts therapy sessions to help out other superpowered beings. Protocol is a newer hero with electricity-based abilities who is a recent addition to the group. This story begins with Mike hosting an AA meeting before shifting the perspective to Protocol in civilian wear. We fellow Protocol to a somewhat secluded location as uses some high-tech equipment to join the meeting with the other supers. This takes place in a world where superpowered people aren’t uncommon. The action here has a hard shot and some explosiveness but no blood or gore. The pacing here is a slower than average overall as there can be a lot of talking. The tone feels like the intro of a big superhero film. There is a violently intense moment. The dialogue is all conversational with a modern talking style. There are more than a few pages with thick text bubbles that can feel word-heavy. This is a debut issue that lays interesting groundwork for the story and gives us a decent look at its main characters.

            The art here is roughly detailed with a light sketch-like quality. The color palette is decently wide and there is a focus on lighting. This takes place in or nearby buildings so the only natural scenery we see are bushes. There are two main locations here: the room where the group therapy session takes place and Time Square on New Year’s Eve. Most of the time the backgrounds show the surroundings of a scene but on occasion it’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is on the very low end as these characters rarely change their look. Anger, fear, and somber emotions are what we’ll see. The faces here range in detail from blank to average but more often than not you should be able to tell what the expression is. Body proportions can be inconsistent from panel-to-panel. The power effects shine bright and glow on the page. The violence here features some hard-hitting moments via superpowers but there isn’t any blood or gore. The action scenes come in a few short bursts no more than a page in length.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like superhero science fiction stories that are about superfolk getting therapy with a bit of violence and drama then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“This all happened before I got these powers.”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.ecscomics.com/the-doctor-1

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianlcs/the-doctor/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): 15

Violent Pages: 3, for 20% 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 – 2

“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.”