Psion #1 is a comic written by Mark Bandy & Uchenna Ugbor with art by Uchenna Ugbor. A college student deals with tough teachers, social stress, and a consortium of philanthropic companies. This is a dramatic comic focusing on students at an HBCU as they go through their daily lives with situations true to life along with some supernatural elements. The main man for this tale is John Lewis, he is from Atlanta and majors in Criminology with aspirations of joing the FBI. He has a friend from the UK named Danita who is in touch with her feelings and very straightforward. Some of the other classmates they’ll bump into are the questioning Willie, friend to dogs Mason, and the lineman Vincent. The story begins with John in a situation familiar to every college student ever: waking up late for class. He rushes into his African-American studies course taught by Dr. Alvaro where they are currently discussing the Haitian Revolution. This comic takes place at the fictional HBCU Gibbs-Green College in Jackson, Mississippi. The violence here is physical and rare with some blood. The pacing is steady with a coming-of-age tone. The intensity here is mainly dramatic with some violence. The dialogue is almost entirely conversational with frequent back-and-forth the occasional jokes. There aren’t any word-heavy pages though a couple get close. This is a debut issue that does a good job of showcasing that college vibe while giving us some interesting and unique characters to follow.

            The art here is drawn in a stylized lightly rough, tiny bit cartoonish, thick outlined way with an overall modern look. The color palettes here are realistic as everything looks like something you’ll have seen before. The scenery is common to most college campuses with strategic placement of trees and well-kept lawns. The location changes as John and Danita travel around from the classroom to dorms, offices to coffee shops, and from the yard to a neighborhood. The backgrounds are split between showing the surroundings like the aforementioned scenery and just being a solid or gradient color. The expression level here is a tick above average and the looks they give off add weight to what is happening//being said. Some of the common emotions here are anger, annoyance, sadness, confusion, disappointment, and fear. The quality of the faces goes from high to low with the expression being clear most of the time and blank the rest. The violence here is physical with some brutal attacks and blood. The action scenes are short and rarely more than a couple panels at a time. The outfits are varied and in a fall style.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up our alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like dramatic stories that take place in college at an HBCU with an all-black main cast while featuring some light supernatural elements and a bit of violence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Really? I figured you’d wanna lose the preacher look.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crimsonsleeper/psion-1-a-southern-gothic-thriller-48-page-full-color/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 48

Violent Pages: 3, for 6% 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 – 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 – 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.”