Aceblade #1 is a comic written by Danny J Quick & Christopher Hollars with art by Vhon Remot, Michael W. Keller, Silas Dixon, Richard Cardoso, and Anthony Cuizon. An MMA fighter enters a bout that has major ramifications. This is a combat-heavy slightly gritty tale that serves as an origin story. The main man for this story is Terrell “The Dragon-Slayer” Durham who is an MMA fighter that hasn’t lost in years. He has a small team around with his trainer Denny and his promoter/agent Chuck. The story begins with a glimpse of the aftermath before flashback to the beginning of the events that lead us here. Things get started with Terrell entering the arena for an MMAX Heavyweight bout in Vegas CIty. The action here is mostly physical with some blood. The pacing is steady and there is a serious and aggressive tone. There are some dangerously intense moments spread out here. The dialogue is almost all conversational with a lot of back-and-forth. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a debut comic that shows us some of the character and skills of our lead while providing excitement and a cliffhanger ending.

            The art here is drawn in a modern style that appears to be influenced by the 90’s with a light dose of grit. The colors here are realistic with a nice variety as well as some prominent shading. Though we get a few shots of the rockier areas surrounding Vegas City the majority of this story takes place indoors. The primary location is the arena and locker room where the fight takes place with some scenes taking place at a nightclub. The panel backgrounds do a good job of showing the scene they are in which gives the various moments extra weight. The expression level here is decent with most of the looks here being angry grimaces. The different emotions come across clearly as the faces have an above-average level of detail. The violence here is mostly physical with guns occasionally getting involved with blood also appearing. The action scenes flow well for the most part though there is one sequence that might trip you up.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like action stories starring a black man and featuring MMA bouts with high stakes in a Las Vegas-like environment with violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“But make it look good for the cameras too.”

 

Physical Link: https://www.4thwallpros.com/product-page/aceblade-1-print-edition

Digital Link: https://4thwallpros.com/product-page/Ace1

Kickstarter Link 1: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aceblade/aceblade-vigilante-complex/description

Kickstarter Link 2: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aceblade/aceblade-vigilante-complex-1/description

Kickstarter Link 3: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aceblade/aceblade-vegas-vigilante/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 21

Violent Pages: 9, for 43% 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 – 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.”