Sporkman: Conventions is a comic written by Eric J. Berry & Christopher Sylvia with art by Gifny Richata. Sporkman visits a convention where he comes across celebrities, fans, and villains. This is a superhero comic with science fiction elements, comedy, a bit of drama, and many references. The main man for this story is Sporkman, he has combined the powers of the spoon and the fork because they make a powerful team. He has a reputation that precedes him though some still don’t know who he is. He’ll come across people who are references to celebrities like William Shatner and characters like Darth Vader. The story begins in a conference room where Sporkman is talking with other costumed convention-goers about powers and what kind of costume you need for crimefighting. This leads to a discussion about what makes a true superhero and after a few inspirational words Sporkman leaves the room and runs into the menacing Lord Fader. This takes place in a world like ours but with some things we know are fictional actually being real. The violence here is physical with some hard hits but no blood or gore. The pacing is steady with tone that is a mix of serious and comedic. There are many tense moments via danger and actual violence. The dialogue here is conversational with subject matter you would definitely hear at a convention. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is debut superhero comic about a man harnessing the power of the spork to fight the good fight at a convention.

            The art here is detailed with a bit of grit and cartoonishness and it is reminiscent of 90’s era comics. This is entirely in black-and-white with some decent shading. There isn’t any natural scenery to speak of as this takes place inside of a convention center so we’ll see a bunch of white walls. The story moves around the convention from conference rooms to the meet-and-greet section even making its way to the stage. The backgrounds occasionally show posters and windows but usually it’ll just be white. The expression level here is average as Sporkman and most other characters wear a mask so it isn’t always initially clear what they are feeling. The main emotion here is anger whether that is righteous or wicked. The faces are decently drawn and tend to clearly show their expressions with Sporkman’s eyebrows somehow sitting on top of his mask so we get more from him then we’d expect. The violence here is mainly physical with hard-hits and weapon involvement. The action scenes do a good job of breaking down each moment so it all flows smoothly.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes

“Would I like this?”

If you like superhero comics with science fiction elements and comedy with a male lead and a bit of violence and drama then this is for you.

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

R. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

 

Physical Link: http://www.getspork.com/conventionssample.html

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 6, for 25% 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 – 1

“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.”