Subject Zero #1 is a comic written by Malcolm Yates McFadden with line art by Serj D’lima and colors by Matheus Huve. Subject Zero is sent on another mission as his employers deal with a familiar threat. This is a supernatural science fiction comic with a large amount of blood and gore along with some mystery elements and a bit of drama. The main man here is Subject Zero, also called “The Black Plague”. He has a wide variety of abilities from the common super speed, strength, agility to the much less common ability to hear the thoughts and conversations of fear. He works as an assassin for secret division under the US Government. The story begins with Subject Zero diving out of a plane into the ocean then swimming to a secret facility. Once he has an eye on the people there he hops out of the water and commences the killing. The violence here is very bloody, extremely gory, and heavily gruesome. The pacing is steady overall with some slower, exposition moments. The tone is like that of an edgy action flick with many violently intense parts. The dialogue is decently conversational with a corporate military talking style and some narration form Subject Zero. There are no word-heavy pages but the text bubbles/blocks can get thick. This is an exciting debut issue for a series that stars a violent and hardened man in a world where this kind of brutality is seen as normal and necessary.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed, serious modern style with strong shading. The color palette consists of mostly darks with red and black being the main culprits. For natural scenery we get shots of the ocean both above and below, but that’s pretty much all you’ll see as most of this story takes place indoors. The main location is the government facility where Subject Zero’s employers work. There are labs, board rooms, and an armory. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings but on occasion they’ll just be a gradient color. The expression level here is a bit below average as most of these characters maintain a hard look. The main emotions here are terror, fear, anger, and sinister happiness. The faces are very detailed down to the teeth and they show the different expressions clearly. The violence here is brought about by guns, swords, and brutal physicality. There are many gruesome attacks here that lead to large amounts of blood and Mortal Kombat-lite gore. The action scenes flow well with a good amount of panels and they come in bursts.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural science fiction stories that star a black man with superpowers and features secret organizations, mystery elements, and heavy blood and gore then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood, gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Do you think he can hear us?”

 

Digital Link: https://www.sixfifteencomics.com/product/subject-zero-1-pdf/120

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sixfifteencomics/evora-leigh-a-new-breed-2-and-subject-zero-1/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26

Violent Pages: 8, for 31% 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 – 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 – 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.”