Ruination #5 is a comic written Ryan Bis with line art by Sarah Fletcher and colors by Kaytee Brown. This ragtag group of survivors comes face-to-face with the man who has paved this path of destruction. This issue is almost entirely action with story placed on top like cheese on a sandwich. The cast of characters is the same as the last issue, with the Fallen ladies Keila nad Nairi teaming up with the Saldyrian bros Dante and Jalen and the kids Raechel and Petyr. And they have a large wolf named Apollo. The big bad named Silas that we’ve seen sparingly up until now makes his lengthiest appearance here. As stated earlier this issue has oodles of story and most of it is relayed by Silas and the ladies during the altercation. The action is mostly sword-based with mystical powers influenced by the elements and other magic staples. The story moves at a steady pace but the stakes are high dang near the entire time. The dialogue is easy to understand which is great because there is a lot of it. There are a few wordy pages and others that are pushing the envelope; it seems like they really wanted to make sure you got a good round view of the world this comic takes place in. This is an exciting installment in this fantasy series that’ll have you anticipating what comes next.

            One of the first things you’ll notice about this comic is the wide range of colors; your eyes will never get bored looking at these pages, especially when it comes to the more supernatural elements. This comic really only takes place in one location and it’s a place made entirely out of glass ice crystals. There is a castle, there are trees, there are even mountains made out of this stuff. The characters here do a good job of showing expression though the main look is that of anger due to this issue almost solely consisting of fights. We do get some looks of concern and confusion which come across nicely as the faces here are well detailed. Face sameness used to be a bit of an issue in this series but not here. The visual effects when magic is used looks as ethereal as it should. The action gets serious and stabby with this comic unafraid to get a bit nasty, but there’s nothing gruesome here. The scenes are easy to follow but you may occasionally get thrown off going from panel-to-panel. The clothes here are standard fantasy fare, if you’ve ever seen Dungeons and Dragons art anywhere you’ve seen these outfits.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like fantasy tales with a team of misfit people and a story about warring nations intertwined with high stakes magic with D&D vibes this is for you.

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

PG-13. A lot of fighting going on.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Is she having a conversation with a dire wolf?”

 

Physical Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/ruination-1-physical-main-rio-burton-cover-jz8pg-5b222-pjtwn-zzsxw

Digital Link: https://www.cpcomics.com/shop/p/ruination-5-digital

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/curiousp/ruination-1-6/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 15, for 58% 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 – 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 – 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.”