Steel Victory #1 is a comic created by Brian Wolf. Private investigator and ex-Champion Dorian West is hired to investigate one of his former comrades. This is a science fiction noir comic that is heavily influenced by Super Sentai/Power Rangers with an air of mystery, some combat, and plenty of drama. The main man here is Dorian West, in his younger years he was the red member and leader of the superhero team called the Champions. Nowadays he works as a private investigator and he has an assistant named Erin. He’ll come across some of his former teammates throughout the course of this issue. This story begins with Dorian meeting with a new client Mrs. Winters, the wife of the Blue Champion Marvin Winters. She tells him that her husband is planning to kill her and Dorian agrees to take the case. He quips some of his old gear, hops in his red convertible, and heads out to pay Martin a visit. This takes place in a major coastal city with a harbor and a Chinatown. The violence here has a decent bit of blood but there isn’t anything gruesome or gory. This moves at a slightly slower-than-average pace with a somewhat gloomy and neo-noir tone. There are a number of physically intense moments with a pervasive air of drama enveloping everything. The dialogue is almost equally split between internal narration and spoken words and there is some snarky humor, noir-like descriptions, and exposition. There might be one word-heavy page. This is an intriguing debut issue that gives us a riveting investigation to follow and interesting, layered and flawed characters to watch.
The art here is drawn in a detailed style reminiscent of comics from the 70’s/80’s with specific lighting and shading. Though the color palette is realistic most of the colors here have a grayish, washed-out look. Though we’ll see some mountains and a body of water most of this takes place deep inside a city and its buildings. Some of the different locations visited are Dorian’s office, Martin Winters’ very large building, and the city streets. Backgrounds are split between being a gradient color and the actual surroundings like shop signs and vehicles. The expression level here is a bit below average as most of these characters don’t emote very much. Emotions shown here include annoyance, irritation, confusion, and anger. Faces here have a decent to average level of quality and though they can sometimes seem flat the intended expression should be decipherable most of the time. The violence here is primarily physical but blades do come into play. There is some blood with no gruesomeness or gore. There are a number of action scenes with a decent flow and a higher panel count.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like science fiction noir stories that star a former member of a Power Ranger-like turned detective with a layered mystery, a bit of violence, and drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Was a time we were the best of friends.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedragonfly/steel-victory-1-a-super-sentai-noir/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20
Violent Pages: 6, for 30% 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 – 3
“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 – 3
“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.”
