Perfect 10 #5 is a comic written by Dave Brink with art by Pow Rodrix, Thiago Gomes, and Daniel Rodrigues. The Meta-Marshals and the Prime Syndicate finally come to blows. This is a science fiction supernatural superhero comic with a very large cast and it is filled to the brim with action and drama. Though Ten is the central character here this comic spreads the focus very wide. Some of the Meta-Marshals we’ll see in prominent roles are the speedy Frontrunner, the body-possessing Phantasma, and the leader Safeguard. The prominent Prime Syndicate members are the powerful Calamity, the strange and mystic-seeming Spectral, and the technomancer Glitch. This story begins where the last one ended with the Meta-Marshals in the lair of the Prime Syndicate after crashing their ship. This results in a tense standoff that is broken up when Manul shouts “Kill” and leaps towards the group of heroes. What happens next is a large, chaotic brawl. The action here features some brutal shots along with some blood and a significant amount of gore. The pacing is overall slower than average as there can be a lot of talking amidst the combat. You might get confused on who is who at some points. The tone is like that of a superhero ensemble movie and the intensity is high throughout. The dialogue is very conversational with mid-battle quips and back-and-forths. There are a number of pages that lean towards being word-heavy as well as there being thick text bubbles. This is an action-heavy issue with many characters, a lot of drama, and an intense build up for the next installment.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed, modern style with strong lighting and shading. The color range is extremely wide and there is great deal of variety on nearly every page. For scenery we have a mountain with a forest at its base alongside a rushing river and blanketed by the night sky. There are only two locations here, the Prime Syndicate’s headquarters and the outdoors. Aside from about five panels the backgrounds always show the surroundings and other characters which help sell the large-scale combat and high stakes of this comic. The expression level here balances out to average as some of these superfolk have a soldier-like demeanor while the others are more reactive. The main emotions here are anger, rage, confusion, and shock, as well as some pained looks. The faces tend to have an overall good amount of detail and show the different expressions very clearly. Some of the characters have similar outfits and/or builds so you might confuse them. The powers on display have different appearances from neon-like brightness to grayish transparency. The violence here is very brutal with a mix of physicality, weapons, and powers delivering the damage. There is a decent amount of blood and a number of gory moments. This entire issue is more or less one long action scene with an overall smooth flow and a good amount of panels to break up the sequences. The outfits here tend to be skintight across the board with most of the men being ripped and practically all of the women but one having large breasts and notable curves. There are numerous lewd/sexy shots, poses, and angles, and they are almost always of the women.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like superhero science fiction supernatural stories with very large casts, heavy violence, and high stakes drama along with blood and notable gore then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood, and gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Can’t you end this before any of us die?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/genuine-comics/perfect-10-book-5-and-powertrip-book-2/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/perfect-10-book-5-and-powertrip-book-2/x/26236710#/

FundMyComic Link: https://www.fundmycomic.com/perfect10-5

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32

Violent Pages: 21, for 66% 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 – 5

“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 – 5

“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 – 2

“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.”