La Muerta: Retribution #1 (Chapter 4) is a comic written by Mike MacLean, illustrated by Joel Gomez, and colored by Ceci de la Cruz. La Muerta and those close to her are in danger when El Brujo decides to go on the offensive. This is a gritty supernatural superheroine comic with heavy violence, tragic spiritual drama, and plenty of secrets. The leading lady here is La Muerta, real name Maria Diaz. She is a woman skilled in hand-to-hand combat and with firearms and she currently serves as the champion for Santa Muerte. Her “boyfriend” is Derek King, he is a police detective who assists Maria while also attempting to convince her to give up this dangerous life. Loco is a large, armored man with a lot of guns and a million dollar bounty on his head. He too is in the business of killing evil men. The big bad here is El Brujo, he is a warlock/shaman who has a sort of control over La Llorona and he is trying to collect ninety-nine people. This story begins with Maria receiving a chilling visit from Santa Muerte who tells her that the makeup is her real face now, her flesh beneath is a lie. The perspective then shifts to El Brujo and his cohorts as they question El Gringo as to the whereabouts of Loco or La Muerte. All El Gringo can give them is information about Detective King. The violence here is very bloody with many gruesome attacks and some literal gore. The pacing here is steady overall with a gritty and grimy tone as well as strong action-thriller vibes. There are many dramatically and violently intense moments. The dialogue is mostly conversational with good back-and-forth and frequent interjections of Spanish. There is some thought narration from La Muerte. This is an extremely violent story that will put these characters through the ringer and show the dangerous ramifications of vigilantism, extreme grief, and revenge.
The art here is drawn in a grittily detailed modern style with a strong focus on shading and lighting. Most of the colors here are dark in tone with blacks and reds being the most prominent. Besides some trees along the street and a quick look at an open field there isn’t much natural scenery here. The perspective shifts from character to character so the location changes a lot. Some of the places visited include a couple abandoned buildings, private homes, the hospital, and the open street. The different backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings which gives the scenes a bit more weight. The expression level here is a bit above average as we have many characters reacting to what is going on. Emotions we’ll see range from anger to rage and from fear to sadness. The faces have an average to good amount of detail and have tendency to show the different expressions clearly. Firearms are overwhelming the weapons of choice though on occasion there is a blade; standard physicality is used as well. There are many gruesome attacks which lead to a very substantial amount of blood with a low amount of gore. The action scenes come in lengthy bursts with a smooth flow and changing angles.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like gritty supernatural superheroine stories that star a Mexican woman and other fighters and features heavy bloody violence, tragic drama, and some pervasive mysteriousness then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
- Violence, blood, gruesomeness, light gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“He was oh so eager. His thirst for knowledge, unquenchable.”
Physical Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/la-muerta-comics/products/la-muerta-retribution-premiere-edition
Digital Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/coffinverse-digital-editions/products/la-muerta-retribution-digital-copy
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianpulido/b-pulidos-newest-graphic-novel-la-muerta-1-retribu/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 44
Violent Pages: 17, for 39% 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 2
“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.”
