Sporkman Goes to Japan Volume 1 is a comic written Eric J. Berry & Charles Bonetti with art by Gifny Richata. Sporkman heads to Japan as part of the Superhero Exchange Program. This is a science fiction superhero comic with supernatural elements and humor. The main man for this story is Sporkman, a man with the powers of the spoon and fork. His actual abilities aren’t clarified but he might have above-average strength and agility. While he is in Japan he is escorted by Natsume Wubi, she is a member of the Advanced Defense Force. The story begins Sporkman arriving at the Department of Unusual Humans and meeting members of the ADF. He is then taken with them on a flight to Japan and on the way he learns that he was not their first choice of superhero to exchange. Upon landing the ADF members are notified of an attack by Shogun Z. The violence here is hard-hitting and explosive with no blood or gore. The pacing is overall slightly faster than average with a humorous tone. There are more than a few violently intense moments. The dialogue here is filled with jokes and comedic misunderstandings with a lot of back-and-forth. There are no word-heavy pages and there is the occasional thick text bubble. This is an exciting issue that places Sporkman in a new environment with a story full of humor and action.

            The art here is cartoonish and detailed with slight manga vibes. This comic is in black-and-white with decent shading. For scenery we have the rare tree as most of this story takes place in or around buildings. The primary location is the ADF headquarters with its many rooms but it moves around frequently from an airport to a tech company to the city streets. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings but when the action starts it tends to be white and filled with action lines. The expression level here is below-average as the only character that really shows emotion is Sporkman. The range goes from anger to confusion with a bit of fear thrown in. The faces are detailed enough to show the expressions well and even though Sporkman wears a mask his eyebrows are visible and the eyeholes of the mask move to show how he’s feeling. The violence is physical and explosive and features aircraft. The action scenes tend to flow well though it is possible for someone to get confused about what’s going on for a panel or two. Natsume is dressed up for most of this but at some point she does don a revealing outfit.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction superhero tales with supernatural elements and a lot of humor that star a man and woman and features 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?”

“Am I the only one who felt uncomfortable back there?”

 

Purchase Link: http://www.getspork.com/japansample.html

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sporkmanstudios/sporkman-the-greatest-utensil-who-saved-japan/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 31

Violent Pages: 10, for 32% 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.”