The Dead Princess Vicky Styx #1 is a comic written by JayDee Rosario with illustrations by Erick Lopera Tamayo and colors by Michael Summers. When two of Vicky Styx’s friends are attacked she goes on the hunt for those responsible. This is a gritty supernatural comic with heavy violence, interspecies drama, and this all takes place in the dead of night. The leading lady here is Vicky Styx, she is an aggressive woman with a notorious reputation and she is a skilled and ruthless fighter. This story begins with Vicky fighting a man in a bar while yelling at him to “Say it again!” A man named Wendi puts a hand on her shoulder and tries to stop her while the other patrons look on like this is a regular event. This takes place in world full of supernatural beings and where mystical things aren’t out of the ordinary. The violence here is bloody with gruesome attacks and body-separating gore. This story moves at a steady pace with a rough, tough, and gritty tone. There is some light dramatic intensity here with most what goes on being violent. The dialogue is conversational with a modern talking style and it is aggressive with most of the people being angry. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is an exciting debut issue that serves as a crash course into Vicky’s violent and dangerous full of the beings both strange and familiar.
The art here is drawn in a detailed modern style with light gritty vibes and strong shading. The color palette is realistic with more dark and cold tones than light and warm, as this takes place at night. The opening location is Hansel’s Pub but the majority of this story takes place outside of it as Vicky spends her time traveling through the city. She’ll go through alleys, the subway, and some more unique areas. The backgrounds are somewhat split between showing the actual surroundings of a scene and just being a gradient color with optional grit. The expression level here is a bit below average as most the characters here are hardened individuals with tough demeanors. Anger is the primary emotion here with fear coming in second followed by annoyance. The faces have an above-average to high amount of detail from the eyes to the teeth which results in the different expressions being very clear. The creatures and beings here look human for the most part but there are noticeable features that set them apart. Weapons used here include stakes, knives, and beer bottles. The violence is very bloody with many gruesome attacks and body-separating gore. The few action scenes come in bursts and they have a higher amount of panels which helps them flow well.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like gritty supernatural stories that star an aggressive woman and that features strong violence and interspecies drama then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“I will never forget what they did for me.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jaydeerosario/the-dead-princess-vicky-styx/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 21
Violent Pages: 13, for 62% 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 – 4
“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.”
