Kitty’s Bordello: Hope, Book 1 is a comic written and edited by Kevin Zoldan with art and lettering by Abel García. A brothel owner in Germany attempts to flee to England as things become more dangerous. This is a story about a woman falling under the eye of the Nazi government and a man attempting to get news out about what’s going on in Germany. The leading lady of this tale is Madame Kitty Schmidt, the owner of the Salon Kitty, which is a high-end brothel. The main man is Steadman, a journalist from America. The plot does a little bit of jumping around but the focus is Madame Kitty as deals with the Nazis while attempting to leave the country. The bulk of this issue takes place in the summer of 1939 in Germany with all the real-life history of that time. There is some light action with blood but it isn’t extensive. There are some lewd moments due to one of the main locations being a brothel. There is a serious tone here that can be felt throughout. The pace is steady and the situations are very intense as things become dangerous. The dialogue seems to read like something from early movies and there are a couple pages that do get a bit heavy on the words. This is good first issue that sets the groundwork with interesting characters that have strong motivations while also letting us know exactly what’s at stake.
The art style here is reminiscent of comics from the 60’s but with more detail. The art also seems smudged and dirty in an intentional way that draws your eye towards the characters, as they and things they touch are in color whereas everything else is not. We don’t see too much in the way of scenery but the countryside we look at seems alive. The atmosphere is dark and heavy which only becomes stronger when you notice the contrast between the dark shadowy buildings and the illuminated characters. The backgrounds of these panels tend to be filled with what is present in the scene and aren’t oddly blank. The expression level here is about average which is probably more based on the tone of the story as these characters don’t show too much emotion. The different looks we see are shown well as the faces have enough detail, especially in close-ups, to show the feelings of the characters. Some of the men look alike but that might be because they are all clean shaven. The action scene is short but it does show blood. There is some nudity here(it is a bordello) but it isn’t explicit.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like stories starring a woman in Germany right before WWII who finds herself on the wrong side of the Nazis this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Nudity.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Like you said, things are changing fast.”
Comic Link: https://www.kittysbordello.com/
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32
Violent Pages: 1, for 3% of the comic
Sexy Pages: 2, for 6% 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 – 2
“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 – 3
“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.”
