The Lunatic, The Lover, & The Poet #1 is a comic written by Brian Hawkins with art by Marcio Loerzer and colors by Gabriel Roldan. A college and town are thrown into disarray when the leading lady of the upcoming play is murdered. This is a dramatic horror comic with some mysteriousness and a sizable cast. The main cast is as follows: Sierra who saw the killer, Xylerpher(Sierra’s cousin) who is writing the play, Mercedez who was Lexus’s best friend, Lexus’ unnamed boyfriend, and Lexus’ uncle Rhys. The way these people interact with each other and react to the news will have you wondering about what is really going on. The story begins with a thick, edited excerpt from the play in question, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Afterwards we see Lexus struggling to breathe while walking down the hall and leaving smeared blood on the walls. A masked individual with a knife appears behind her and Lexus continues her desperate escape attempt. This story takes place in the fictional town of Billsbrooke, Virginia, at the Poe School of Art. The violence here is bloody and brutal but there isn’t any gore. The pacing is steady but it can throw you off slight as the perspectives switch frequently. The tone is like that of a slasher show/movie aimed at teens with palpable tension. There are many intense moments as a result of violence, fear, and danger. The dialogue here is mainly conversational with a good amount of back-and-forth. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an interesting debut issue about a violent tragic event that causes ripples throughout a college and town with a cast of mostly young people. There is a bonus mini-comic called Believe In The Name that has people battling against a zombie-like creature.
The art here is smoothly detailed and drawn in a modern style with very strong lighting and shading. The color range is wide and realistic with an overall dark tone. The scenery here looks like what you’d see on the average college campus with clearly landscaped lawns and some nice shots of the sky. The college serves as the primary location with scenes taking place all over from dorm rooms to bathrooms to the lobby. The backgrounds tend to show the surroundings but on occasion it’ll be a heavily shaded gradient color. The expression level here is a tick below average as only the women here seem to show their true feelings. The main emotions are fear and sadness with a good bit of shock. The faces are have a good amount of detail overall so the different looks should come across clearly. Though there is a good amount of blood most of the violence is off-screen. The action scenes tend to be on the short side but they flow smoothly.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like dramatic horror stories that take place at a college in a small town with a cast of mainly young adults and featuring violence and mystery then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Blood, violence.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“We’re gonna get through this, babe.”
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brianlouisiam/the-lunatic-the-lover-and-the-poet-issue-1-act-i/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 26
Violent Pages: 6, for 23% 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 – 2
“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 – 3
“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 – 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.”
