Parent/Guardian #1 is a comic written, illustrated, and lettered by Kyle Roberts with colors by Michael Woods. A headstrong young mechanic goes about her duties while being watched over by a sentient guardian. This is a science fiction comic with drama and military elements that features heavy combat and mechs. The leading lady for this tale is Charlie Ford, she is a mechanic who performs maintenance on guardians, which are basically small mechs. She gets into scrapes and annoys those around her but she is very good at her job. Watching over her is a large guardian who, due to some unfortunate circumstances, is actually her father. The story begins with Charlie getting into a fight with some guys at a bar that gets pretty rough before being broken up by the bar owner. She is quickly kicked out of the bar and she takes a random cute soldier with her. The city/planet this comic takes place on isn’t clear. The violence here is explosive with gunfire with a little blood and no gore. The pacing is a tick below steady with a militaristic tone. There are many intense situations due to violence and imminent danger. The dialogue is conversational with a lot of military jargon while being overall very aggressive. There are at least a couple wordy pages. This is an exciting debut issue that has a strong leading lady with a story that is focused on combat.

            The art here is detailed and a bit cartoonish with a style that is reminiscent of some late 90’s/early 2000’s comics. The color range here is decent with orange and blue being the most prominent; the shading here is decent. For scenery there is a mountainous, rocky, and dry environment out in space which has desert vibes. The rest of the story takes place in or near buildings like a bar, a hangar, and other parts of military bases. The backgrounds here most often show the surroundings but it can be a gradient color, usually orange or blue. The expression level here is somewhat high as these characters rarely hide how they feel. The main emotions are anger and horror though we do get some fear, happiness, shock, and sadness. The faces have a decent amount of detail but can get animated so the expressions come across clearly. The violence here is physical at first but gets explosive and involves firearms later on. There is a small amount of blood and implied but unseen gruesomeness. The action scenes can be lengthy with a high amount of panels so everything moves smoothly.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories with drama and militaristic elements that stars a young woman and a sentient mech and that features a lot of violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Why can’t you just let me live my own life?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/771451023/parent-guardian-1/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 34

Violent Pages: 17, for 50% 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 – 4

“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 – 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 – 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.”