The Preyground #1 is a comic written by Madelaine Salvage with illustrations by Marc L. Thomas. A child undergoes a haunting change while at the playground. This is a supernatural horror comic starring a young child and his family that features heavy gore and gruesomeness. The key kid for this story is Scotty, he looks to be around the ages of 4-8 and he seems like your average kid. He lives with his mother and father. This story begins with Scotty and his mother at a playground with a bunch of other kids and parents. While drinking a juice box he sees a dark apparition in the distance that startles him and he begins to give chase. The violence in this story is unseen but the gory and gruesome aftermath is very clear. The pacing is faster than average and the tone is upbeat at first but it will get dark. Things here get intense due to the drama and violence. The dialogue is conversational with decent back-and-forth. There are no word-heavy pages here, quite the opposite actually. This is a creepy debut issue that starts off calm and fun before sinking into gruesome darkness.
The art here is cartoonish and looks like something out of a children’s book. The color palette shifts between being black-and-white and a contrast of sun-related colors vs. night-related ones; with red being present in both. There are only two locations here: the playground in an open field with a sidewalk on one side and bushes on the other and Scott’s home with most scenes taking place in the kitchen/dining room. The backgrounds are split between showing the actual surroundings and just being a gradient/solid color. The expression level here is high as these characters lean into their feelings. The emotions on display here are happiness, pain, anger, shock, and tiredness. The faces here have decent details with large eyes and they can get a bit animated which helps the different expressions come across clearly. The creature is shadowy and tall with a wide wingspan. The violence here is implied unseen but there is heavy, gruesome gore. The action scenes come in short bursts and flow smoothly.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like supernatural horror stories starring a young kid and a strange force that features heavy gore then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Gore, gruesomeness.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Maybe later Mummy.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maddiesalvage/the-preyground-1-a-supernatural-horror-quickstarter-comic/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22
Violent Pages: 5, for 23% 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 – 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 – 2
“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.”
