Acausal #1 is a comic written by John Ward with art by Ev Cantada. A constable is abducted so that they can provide assistance in stopping a terrorist. This is a thriller science fiction comic with time traveling and drama. The leading lady for this tale is Tara Becker, she is a constable in the RCMP and has spent the last two years hunting a terrorist bomber who is always one step ahead. She is currently being hounded by a man and a woman who claim she must come with them in order to put a stop to these bombings. The story begins in the thick of it with Tara escaping from the back of a moving vehicle being driven by the kidnapping couple. She hitches a ride to the nearby convention centre and after she arrives she begins searching for the bomb. This takes place in Canada and it seems true to life(I am an American so I can’t confirm). The action here is explosive and physical with no blood or gore. The pacing fluctuates between slow-paced to fast-paced as there can be a lot of talking on some pages. The tone is very serious as the threat of a bomb exploding looms and this is paired with high-stress intensity. Though there is some narration via Tara’s thoughts the majority of the dialogue here is conversational with aggression. There is only one word-heavy page here. This is a debut issue that throws us right into the action with a determined lead who is trying to get a grasp on what is really going on.

            The art here is drawn in a modern style with good lighting and shading. The coloring here is realistic but the color range is a bit limited and most of them are of a dark or slightly faded tone. This takes place entirely inside a city so besides a few well-placed trees there isn’t much scenery. This is a constantly moving story so there isn’t a set location abut a lot of it takes place in a vehicle or in dark deep areas of buildings. Except for a small amount of gradient colors the background always shows the surroundings of the scene. The expression level here is around average as these characters aren’t very emotional. We do get some shocked and confused looks with some anger and sadness as well. The faces are decently drawn and show the expressions clearly. The violence here gets physical and explosive with some guns used. The action scenes come in short bursts with no blood or gore.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction thrillers with time travel elements and drama that stars a cast of mainly women with some violence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Maybe I could’ve handled it differently.”

 

Digital Link: https://arbutusfilms.com/product/acausal-1/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/229498143/acausal-1/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 10, for 42% 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 – 1

“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.”