Ace – Every Dog Has His Day is a comic written and illustrated by Chris Askham. When his master dies, this dog decides to take on the mantle. This is a science fiction superhero parody comic that has brutal heavy violence, numerous Batman references, and a grim noir tone. The main man(or dog) here is Ace, he was formerly a regular canine until his crimefighting master mixed his DNA with his own and now he’s a large anthropomorphic dog. His master looks like Bruce Wayne and has the same last name, he also wears a costume that looks like Batman’s. This story begins with this Master Wayne asking Ace to finish his work as he lies in a bed dying. Ace almost immediately begins training and preparing to take down these villains. This parody of Batman takes place in a Gotham-like city with all the similarities. The violence here is very bloody with some gore and gruesomeness. This moves at a somewhat speedy pace and it has the tone the dark, noir tone of a Batman property. This is violently intense with plenty of dramatics. Almost all of the dialogue is narration from Ace but there is the occasional villain quip or insightful advice from a mentor. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an entertaining and intriguing issue that puts an interesting spin on the Batman mythos by putting someone unexpected at the forefront.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed pulpy, somewhat smooth, Golden Age of Comics-like style with strongly realistic lighting and shading. The color palette consists of mostly dark and low saturated tones as this primarily takes place at night. Most of the scenery shown here is of the concrete jungle variety though we will see a plant or two. Though this starts off at Master Wayne’s mansion and cave-like base most of this takes place around the city from rooftops and dark alleys to hideouts and lairs. Backgrounds are usually a gradient color but occasionally we’ll physical parts of the scene. The expression level here is a bit below average as most characters just sport a hard, tough look. We will see some sad emotions but there is much more aggression and anger. Faces have a decent to high amount of detail from the wrinkles to the teeth so just about every look is clear. Weapons shown include bat-shaped gadgets, knives, and firearms. There is some brutal bloody violence on display with some gore and gruesomeness but nothing too heavy. The action scene is lengthy and is almost like a montage with a smooth flow and decent panel variety. Some of the women here are lewd and nude-adjacent.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction superhero noir stories that parody Batman and star an anthropomorphic dog and features heavy bloody violence and a grim tone then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gore, gruesomeness, lewdness, implied nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I will become darkness. The night.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/switchbladestories/ace-every-dog-has-his-day-one-shot/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 23

Violent Pages: 9, for 39% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 2, for 9% 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 – 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 – 3

“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.”