Knight #1 is a comic written by Guido Martinez with art by Mauri, Viktor Nava, and Marcus Odoms. A lone man attempts to keep the city safe while searching for pieces of himself. This is a gritty story starring a mysterious man in a world where danger lurks just under the surface. The man in question is the Knight, or Iron Stalker, or Vanguard, it really depends on who you ask. Accompanying him is a man who doesn’t completely get what’s going on. The plot follows our hero on his protective prowls around the city and hunt for those like him with some occasional glances at those who might undermine all this good. This story is relatively light on action but when it does happen it is hard-hitting. The pace is pretty slow with lots of talking. The dialogue is modern but reading it will require some thought as they do get philosophical and analytical. And there are a lot of words here. Around half the pages are wordy and it slows the story down significantly. This is a world-building theme-setting first issue that gives a deep character introduction and sows the seeds of future conflict. Also included within these pages is the first part to a comic entitled The Chosen, which has us following a woman searching for champions to help her enact some revenge.

            This issue features some very dark and gritty looking art with some heavy shadow use. There is a decent range of colors and they stand out due to the overwhelming presence of darker shades. The main location is probably the house where our hero resides but the story takes place on rooftops and down dark alleys. The expression level here is slightly above-average but that really applies to the two main characters as the rest of the people kinda lag behind in that regard. Faces are full of detail but the quality of it can jump and fall from panel to panel. There are also moments where they can look eerily hollow. Bodies are also disproportionate on some pages but look fine and dandy on others. The action is all fisticuffs with no blood being shown and the scenes are pretty swift. His hero outfit is pretty much a knight wearing a cloak. The art in The Chosen is full of detail and will bring to mind the art in sword and sandal comics like Red Sonja and Conan with a lot going on in the background and scenery.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like slow-paced stories dark in tone dealing with a mix of action and philosophy with introspection and a noir vibe this is for you.

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

PG-13. Fighting and death.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You’ve had tons of chances. You aint running away.”

 

Digital Link: https://nosleeppress.gumroad.com/l/HVwIX

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 31

Violent Pages: 6, for 19% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 3% 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

“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.”