La Muerta: Primeval #1 (Chapter 8) is a comic written by Mike MacLean, illustrated by Joel Gomez, and colored by Ceci de la Cruz. Maria heads to Peru to assist her old army buddies search for their former lieutenant. This is a supernatural science fiction comic with horror vibes, life-threatening drama, and gruesome violence. The leading lady here is Maria Diaz/La Muerta, she is a former Army medic turned vigilante who has been acting as a tool of justice for Santa Muerte. She’s battled cartels, shamans, and demons, all in the name of protecting the less fortunate. This time around she is accompanied by former brothers-in-arms Sergeant Miller, Rooker, Yamada, and Weeks, who has become a priest. The story begins at a bar in Peru where Maria meets up with her former comrades and they discuss the information they have on the missing Lieutenant Conrad. Apparently Conrad was battling the gangs that used children in the drug trade until he found something strange in the rainforest. He feared that whatever he found had taken his soul and no one has heard from him since. The violence here is very bloody and gruesome with significant gore. The pacing here is a mix of fast and slow moments and there is a daytime horror tone with a vibe similar to Anaconda. There many violently intense moments but some take on a more dramatic flair. The dialogue is conversational with good back-and-forth and thought narration from Maria. The talking style is serious and though this is in English there is frequent Spanish use. No word-heavy pages here. This is an scary and violent issue that shows Maria in a new environment while still providing the same level of violence you’ve come to expect.
The art here is drawn in a detailed style reminiscent of 90’s comics with strong lighting and shading. The color palette features a lot of green, brown, and black with consistent red tones for blood and gunfire. For scenery we have a river running through a lush, thick, rainforest with all kinds of plants and trees as well as some debris. The main location for this story is the boat this group is using to travel along this dangerous waterway. Backgrounds usually show the very intricate surroundings which makes the different moments seem more intense. The expression level here is a bit above average as these are hard characters but we don’t get some realistic reactions. Emotions we’ll see here are: shock, fear, anger, confusion, and sinister happiness. The faces have a decent to good amount of details with strong features close up and they tend to show the different expressions very well. The weapons of choice here are firearms and the occasional blade. There are many gruesome and brutal attacks that lead to a lot of blood and nasty gore. The action scenes come in well-flowing bursts separate by tense moments of relative calmness. The panel count is a bit above-average.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like supernatural science fiction stories that star an ex-military Mexican woman and some of her former Army comrades in a Peruvian rainforest with heavy violence, horror vibes, and dangerous drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gore, gruesomeness, light nudity.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“The answers will come in time, if you live long enough.”
Physical Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/la-muerta-comics/products/la-muerta-primeval-premiere-edition
Digital Link: https://coffincomicsshop.com/collections/coffinverse-digital-editions/products/la-muerta-primeval-digital-copy
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianpulido/brian-pulidos-la-muerta-1-primeval/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 48
Violent Pages: 24, for 50% 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 – 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 – 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.”
