The Defense #1 is a comic written by Keith Champagne with art by Leonardo Rodrigues and Jack Champagne and colors by Rich Stahnke. This lawyer makes his name defending dangerous supervillains. This is a supernatural science fiction superhero comic with a good deal of drama, some violence, and a bit of mystery. The main man here is unnamed but most people call him Prince Vengeance. He is a blunt and abrasive lawyer who primarily defends supervillains and he’s pretty successful. This story begins with Prince Vengeance giving his closing arguments in the trial Mister Menace, real name Thomas Zeck. He airs some of Zeck’s dirty laundry and says negative things about his character but insists that he isn’t guilty of this specific crime. During jury deliberation he heads to the parking garage to take a call. The violence in this story is destructive and a bit gruesome but there isn’t any blood or gore. The pacing is steady overall and the tone is like that of a courtroom drama. There are a few violently intense moments. The dialogue is conversational with decent back-and-forth with many a snarky comment by Prince Vengeance. There are no word-heavy pages here but text bubbles can get thick. This is a debut issue that focuses on the main character as well as showing us what kind of world they operate in.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed style reminiscent of 90’s comics, just a bit sharper and more cleaned up. The color range here is realistic with a lightly faded/washed out look. There isn’t any natural scenery as this takes place in a downtown area. The main location is the courthouse and its parking garage along with some related places. The backgrounds are split between showing the actual surroundings and just being a gradient color with optional action lines. The expression level here is around average as there are a number of reactions. Emotions on display here include annoyance, anger, smugness, fear, confusion, and shock. The detail in the faces range from decent to good and they usually give off clear expressions. The power effects are either solidly bright or they have a splatter look. The violence is delivered physically or with special abilities and though there is some gruesomeness there isn’t any blood or gore. The action scenes come in bursts with an overall decent panel count and a smooth flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural science fiction superhero comics that star a lawyer for supervillains and that features violence, strong drama, and a bit of mystery then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence, gruesomeness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Got a point in that bionic leg? Or just a newsfeed?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/newpain/the-defense/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 5, for 21% 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 – 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 – 2

“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.”