La Muerta: Last Rites #1 (Chapter 2) is a comic with the story by Brian Pulido, written by Mike MacLean, illustrated by Joel Gomez, and colored by Ceci de la Cruz. La Muerta continues on her path of vengeance as she goes after the remaining members of the Zavala Cartel. This is a superheroine revenge comic with an evil, scheming criminal organization and heavy bloody violence. The leading lady here is La Muerta, real name Maria Diaz. Eight months after her family was murdered by the Zavala Cartel and she was left for dead she took on a new persona and began her quest for revenge. She was nursed back to help by a former hitman for the Zavala Cartel named Faustino who now Some of the remaining Zavala Cartel members are: Santos the dirty cop, the cowboy-looking Diablo, and their leader Mama Z who has been collecting human hearts for a nefarious spiritual purpose. There is also a cop named Derek who reluctantly assists La Muerta and tries to turn her from this path. This story begins with La Muerta trailing Santos to an abandoned building where they get in a shootout. After coming out of the battle victorious she discovers that she’s been deceived and after an explosion she finds herself face-to-face with Diablo and Santos. The violence here can be very gruesome with a lot of blood but not much gore. The pacing is steady overall with a few speedy sections and the tone of an action-thriller. There are many violently intense moments and a few dramatic ones. The dialogue here is conversational with good back-and-forth and an aggressive talking style with some Spanish occasionally thrown in. La Muerta also provides some narration of her thoughts. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a very violent issue that shows the hard felt effects of vengeance on both the doer and those around them, no matter how righteous the motivations may seem.
The art here is drawn in a somewhat smoothly gritty modern style with strong shading and purposeful lighting. The color palette leans dark in tone with black and red being the most prominent shades. There isn’t much natural scenery outside of a graveyard as this takes place in the grimier urban parts of a city. There are a number of abandoned buildings visited here as well as mansion and the city streets. The different areas are dipping with character from graffiti and vendors to the building design. Backgrounds usually show the actual surroundings which can make the individual scenes have more impact. The expression level here is above-average as there is a lot going on that these characters react to. Emotions here are mostly aggressive from anger and annoyance to rage and sinister smiles; there are also some sad and regretful looks. The faces have a decent to good amount of detailed and strong eyes that lead to most expressions coming across clear. Weapons used here include firearms, bombs, and various blades. There are many gruesome attacks to lead to large amounts of blood but not much, if any, visible gore. The action scenes come in bursts and tend to feature a high amount of panels with a smooth overall flow.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like superheroine revenge stories that star a Mexican woman going up against a cartel and featuring heavy violence along with some evil drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gruesomness, light gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Those voice, they’ll never go away, you know.”
Physical Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/la-muerta-comics/products/la-muerta-last-rites-premiere-edition
Digital Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/coffinverse-digital-editions/products/la-muerta-last-rites-digital-copy
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianpulido/bpulidos-newest-graphic-novel-la-muerta-1-last-rit/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 48
Violent Pages: 25, for 52% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 1, for 2% of the comic
**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**
Violence Level – 5
“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 – 4
“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 – 3
“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.”
