Hellcats #1 is a comic written and drawn by John A. Rhodes. The discovery of other Hyperverses leads to a retired hero being called back into action. This is a superhero science fiction comic with a large cast, plenty of violence, and a substantial amount of drama. The main man for this tale is Steve Decker, aka Silver Eagle. He is a retired superhero who is spends his time drinking after the death of his daughter. The leading lady here is Liberty(formerly Gunner), she works for the Coalition Joint Task Force and is responsible for bringing Steve back. Some other heroes here are the sharpshooting Crossbow and the violent but grieving Owling. This story begins with a look at Steve’s night in which we see him visit his daughter’s grave, pick up some whiskey, and give some money to a homeless man. Upon entering his apartment we get a glimpse of slanderous and sad newspaper articles but this is interrupted by Steve drawing his gun as he senses someone in his home. This takes place in the Nothing-Man universe which includes the Fatgirl, Bulletproof, and The Last Owling comic series’. The violence here is bloody with gruesome attacks but nothing gory. The pacing goes from fast to slow as there are some foundation-laying explanations given. The tone is like that of a time-travel film with lots of danger involved. There are more than a few intense moments due dramatics and violence. The dialogue is conversational with a good amount of back-and-forth and aggression. There are complicated concepts, thick text bubbles, and at least a couple word-heavy pages. This is an intriguing debut issue that stars new and familiar characters who are forced to undertake a high-stakes, dangerous mission that could help save lives.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed, slightly smooth, modern style with a strong focus on lighting and shading. The color palette features a lot of black, blue, and gray/silver. This takes place mostly inside of buildings and stations so outside of ocean and shots of space there isn’t much scenery. The primary location for this story is the Coalition Battle Station: Bastion which sits in earth’s orbit. It looks like your average high-tech space station with long, winding hallways, and large rooms. Some of the other places visited are offices and homes in the inner city. The backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings but on rare occasions it’ll be a scene matching gradient. The expression level here is below-average as most of the characters here maintain a hard, rough look. When it comes to emotions we will see anger, confusion, sadness, shock, and annoyance. The faces have a good amount of detail and tend to show the different expressions clearly. There is some slight face sameness among the women but it shouldn’t confuse you. The weapons of choice here are firearms with the occasional fist. The violence can be bloody with some gruesome shots but there isn’t really any gore. The action scenes come in bursts and flow well with a high number of panels. The outfits here are skintight and/or revealing across the board. All the women here have large breasts, curves, and hard nipples. There are numerous lewd/sexy shots and angles.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like superhero science fiction stories that star mostly women and feature a lot of drama and violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hyperversecomics/nothing-man-the-graphic-novel-and-other-trade-editions/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 31

Violent Pages: 10, for 32% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 3, for 10% 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 – 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 – 4

“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.”