The Perils of Passion #1 is a comic written by Scott Wilke with illustrations by Carlos Rod Silva and colors by Federico P. Sioc Jr.. After a string of disappearances Passion is tasked with investigating a traveling magician. This is a fantasy noir tale starring a woman who has seen plenty of nonsense and has no time for it. The woman in question is Passion, an investigator that specializes in supernatural cases. She likes to drink, can fight, and is willing to go undercover. We’ll run into some interesting people while attempting to solve this mystery. The story begins with the results of her sleuthing before taking us back to the beginning and letting us see how things ended up the way they did. This takes place in a modern world with the standard fantasy creatures like golems and goblins. The action here is hard hitting but devoid of blood and gore. The pacing is slightly slower which fits the genre and this lets you soak in every moment. The tone has that noir seriousness with varying levels of intensity. The dialogue has that voiceover style common to noirs and Passion like to inject some witty and smart remarks into her conversations. There are a few wordy pages but they are usually back-and-forths so they read fast. This is an exciting debut comic that establishes the lead while giving us an interesting case to follow.

            The art here is drawn in a modern style with some excellent lighting and a realistic but wide range of colors. This takes place almost entirely indoors but we do get some glimpses of some tall buildings. The location changes a few times and the atmosphere follows. In Passion’s office it feels like a classic noir starring a gumshoe detective, but in the theater it really feels like a big show. The backgrounds nearly always contain parts of the scene in them which helps the panel seem alive. The expression level here is slightly above-average with our main lady Passion showing more emotions than most noir protagonists. The range isn’t very vast as most of the looks are on the angry and sinister tree but we do get some happier ones. The faces are very detailed especially on close-ups; almost every look they give is clear and meaningful. There is some light face sameness, but nothing bothersome. The action scenes are either lengthy or short and they are hard-hitting but don’t have any blood or gore. All the women here have large breasts and tend to wear revealing clothes.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like fantasy stories with noir vibes that star a woman as a supernatural detective then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Speaking of dinner, I’m still curious how I couldn’t make you mine.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inferno-publishing/the-perils-of-passion1-bounty-hunter-of-demons-and-the-occult/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 28

Violent Pages: 6, for 21% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 4% 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.”