Black Mariah #1 is a comic written by Vesper Aeon with art by Halfrice and lettering by Marco Della Verde. In a futuristic world an organization seemingly at the forefront find themselves on the sidelines. This is a story that is very character-driven with a focus on how they take everything in. Our leading ladies are Duluth, a woman who always has something to say, and Renault, a woman who finds herself being the butt of one too many jokes. The leading man is Gaurav, a sniper who likes what he can’t have. Interactions between these and other people are what you’ll focus on. The plot starts with the team of soldiers on the warship and we eventually follow some of them on a mission. The action here is a bit bloody but not gory. There are a lot of sexual jokes and innuendos at the beginning and throughout this issue. The dialogue is fast-paced and witty with a couple wordy pages and some thick text blocks that slow the story down for a bit. This is a debut comic that lays a foundation for a story by getting us to know the characters and gives us a little something to peak our interest in a follow up.

            The art here is black-and-white with a watercolored looked to it. The atmosphere is one that seems like it should be serious but all the joking makes it more light-hearted. There are two primary locations here: An office-type space and outdoors at a press-like event. The expression level here is pretty low; the only looks we see are anger and a smirk. The faces here are well-drawn though, and look like something you’d see in an older painting. This fact makes it a bit disappointing that we don’t see more emotions come out. You’ll see guns and swords used that have a high-tech look to them. The action scenes don’t go on too long and do get bloody with some nasty-looking attacks but they stay away from getting gory. There is no visual sexualization but there are a lot of sex-related jokes made.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yeah.

“Would I like this?”

If you like futuristic tales starring a mixed-gender military team and full of jokes then this is for you.

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

R. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Okay, note to self…don’t touch that nerve again. Yowch.”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09H65FVNM?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks

 

***** I received this review copy for free. *****

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 21

Violent Pages: 6, for 29% 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.”