Riot Earp #1 is a comic written by Michael S. Katz with art by Fred Benes and colors by Fred Marine. A former member of Space Force begins his new job as a California Highway Patrol officer. This is a futuristic science fiction comic with political elements and a sizable cast. The leading man for this tale is Ryan Earp, he is a former cop and Space Force member whose family is well-known and wealthy on Mars but he has decided to head back to Earth after losing his last job. The first member of the C.H.P. he meets is Josephine Diaz, she is an upbeat person who doesn’t hide her intentions. Through her he’ll meet the gruff Captain Tannhauser, the administrator Peg, and the officers Seely, Swann, and Rikki. He’ll also visit dispatch where he’ll meet a few people including “Little” Bill. The story begins with Ryan stepping off the train in San Diego where he is greeted by Josie and taken to the C.H.P. headquarters. He is given tours, he goes through introductions, and he is provided with lodgings. The next day he goes with Seely on his first call in years. This comic takes place in 2055 in a world where the US has split into four different provinces, two Republican and two Democrat. The political climate here will come into play. The action here is hard-hitting, bloody, gruesome with a light amount of gore. The pacing is steady a slightly upbeat cop drama tone. There are many intense moments throughout which are usually due to danger of violence. The dialogue here is primarily conversational full of back-and-forths, jokes, and wittiness. There are at least a few wordy pages. This is an exciting comic with violent fights, political intrigue, and hints of romance with a decently-sized cast of interesting characters.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed, lightly smoothed, modern style with decent lighting and shading. The color range here is both realistic and wide with most pages having a good variety. Besides a few shots of grass and trees outside of buildings there isn’t really any scenery. The starting location is the California Highway Patrol office which is where a good chunk of the story is spent. There are more than a few other places visited from Ryan’s house to government buildings. The backgrounds show the surroundings of the area most of the time but there is the occasional wall-matching gradient color. The expression level here is average as Ryan spends most of his time with a hard, tough look. The emotional range overall has happiness and surprise, but anger and fear are the most common. The faces sport strong features with good detail so pretty much all the different expressions are displayed clearly. The violence here does get physical but it usually involves guns and can get very bloody and gruesome with a light amount of gore. The action scenes tend to have a high amount of panels which helps things flow smoothly and unconfusingly.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like futuristic science fiction stories with a decently-sized cast and political intrigue, drama, and violence then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, light gore, sexual situations.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“This job isn’t as much fun as I remember it.”

 

Physical Link: https://stridernolanstore.com/shop/ols/products/riot-earp

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/riotearp/riot-earp-1-a-complete-54-page-comic/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 52

Violent Pages: 20, for 39% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 3, 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 – 3

“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 – 3

“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.”