Set the Hook #1 is a comic created by Chad Perkins with illustrations by Tim Sparvero. A detective with notable fish knowledge is assigned a murder case. This is a dramatic science fiction comic with noir elements, mystery, and fish people. The main man here is Otis Ysabaert, he is a gruff, aggressive, and consistently drunk detective who is known as a loose cannon. He is very skilled at solving fish-related crimes. Throughout this story he’ll run into other cops, old friends, and fish with sinister dispositions. The story begins with Otis waking up in the drunk tank at the police station surrounded by empty bottles. After some antagonistic interactions with his coworkers he is summoned to his boss’ office where they discuss his last case. This takes place in a world where aquatic creatures walk around in natural and more humanoid forms. The violence here is lightly bloody with some gore. The pacing here is steady with a gritty, hard-boiled, 1970’s detective movie tone. There some intense moments here primarily due to violence and the threat of. The dialogue is conversationally aggressive with noir-style narration from Otis. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a debut issue that gives us a pretty good glimpse of the leading man and pairs him with an intriguing story that has mystery and revenge vibes.

            The art here is detailed, stylized, and cartoonish with light shading. The color range here is wide with a lot of blue and green as well as notable color blending. For scenery we have a large body of water bordered by some trees and the rising sun. There are three primary locations here: the police station, Fighting Island, and a bar. These areas all stand out in their own way. The different kinds of backgrounds you’ll see are the actual surroundings, a solid color, and a mix of both. The expression level here is around average as the non-main characters give us a decent range of looks. The main emotion here is anger and irritation which tends to come from Otis while the others give us some variety like happiness and silliness. The faces show the different expressions well and they can get a bit animated. There is a bit of face sameness. The creatures here look mostly human but some have tentacles, fish heads, or are just straight up animals. The violence here involves guns and explosives as well as being physical. There is also some blood and a good amount of gore. The action scenes tend to come in short bursts with a decent amount of panels.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like dramatic science fiction stories with noir elements that star a drunk detective and involve a mystery as well as fish people then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Yeah, yeah. Can I have my drink back?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sparkledog/set-the-hook-issue-1/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 7 for 27% 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 – 3

“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 – 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.”