Allison Strange #1 is a comic written Aaron Segman with pencils and layout by Joelle Blot with inks and shading by Zip Alegria, and Azam Raharjo. A woman moves to Alaska for work and is privy to a number of odd events. This is a lightly comedic comic with a noir feel and a mysterious atmosphere that features a story that has a creeping feeling of thing being a little off. Our leading lady is Allison Strange, an investigative woman that isn’t too bothered by abnormal happenings. There are a few other interesting characters that we’ll get a glimpse of but the main focus is Allison. This story begins with the arrival to Alaska and afterwards we get a good look at what’ll become Allison’s daily routine as she begins her new job. There is a lot of learning, meeting people, and little mysteries. There are themes of isolation and determination here as huge life changes can be daunting. There is a moment of action here but it isn’t bloody or anything. Potentially some gore. This is paced slowly as we incrementally go through a day of before starting over again but it is far from boring. Half of the dialogue is in Allison’s head as she attempts to make sense of what goes on there. No wordy pages here. This is a comic starring a relatable woman who is just trying to get through the day whole working in a mysterious shop.

            The art here is slightly cartoony and colorless which might add to air of mystery pervasive in this comic. There is a gloomy atmosphere brought on by the story that is only strengthened by the art. The natural scenery is nice to look at but most of this story takes place indoors. The main location for this story is the Kwik N Go gas station and its many rooms. The expression level here is a bit below average as Allison maintains a black face at nearly all times. We do get a few different looks that come across clearly thanks to the few but strong details in the faces, but these are rare. The action scene is physical but it doesn’t get hard to watch. There is light gore somewhat.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like introspective mysterious stories starring women with supernatural elements and noir vibes this is for you.

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

PG-13. Some implications and violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Denial wastes everyone’s time Allison”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cqpress/allison-strange/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 25

Violent Pages: 2, for 8% 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 – 2

“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, sort of jumps to 5 in one scene

“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 – 1

“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.”