The Return of Jake Sunrise: The Soft Play is a comic written by Dean Page with art by Veronica Saraceno, Juan Manuel Gutierrez, and Hafid Ardi. Jake Sunrise is implored by a child to deal with cruelty down at the circus. This is a supernatural comic that takes place during the Wild West and features the violence and some of the characterization common for that time period. The leading man for this story is Jake Sunrise, he is a bounty hunter who doesn’t speak and who constantly finds himself under attack. Also in a prominent role is a young Chinese boy named Fee Lee Bo. There are some standout people in the circus as well like the ringmaster(who is a woman), a fortune teller, and some clowns. The story begins with Jake Sunrise carrying a bound man to the Sheriff’s office for a bounty where he is accosted in the street by about seven men who are strongly against their brother being put behind bars. What happens next is a good old fashioned gunfight, all witnesses by Fee Lee. There is a theme of fighting injustice on multiple fronts. The action here is very bloody with some gory and gruesome attacks. The pacing here is steady the tone is dark and serious with uneasiness in the air. There are many intense moments from socially and physically dangerous situations. The dialogue here is almost completely conversational with no narration past the first page. They speak like people do in Western/country media and use old words and slang, some of which you may need to look up. There aren’t any word-heavy pages. This is a violent Western comic centered on a circus that stars a grizzled bounty hunter and an unafraid young boy.
The art here is reminiscent of the early 2000’s and is just a touch cartoony. The colors here are on the darker end but the range is wide and there is some prominent shading. The scenery here is snow-covered buildings and streets with a rare glimpse of a forest. The main location here is the big tent of the circus where most of this story goes down. Some of the other places that are visited are a boarding house, a fortune teller’s tent, and the rooftops. The backgrounds usually show the scene and its surroundings but on the occasion it doesn’t there are gradient colors with or without action lines. The expression level here hovers around average as Jake Sunrise doesn’t really show anything other than a tired or angry look. The emotions from everyone else are all over the place from fear and sadness to rage and evil. The faces are detailed with a focus on the eyes and mouths with all the smaller looks coming across very clearly. The violence here is hard-hitting, bloody, gruesome, and can involve fire. There are plenty of rough attacks and Western-style gunfights. The action scenes tend to have a high panel count and a non-confusing flow.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like supernatural Western stories starring a bounty hunter and a young Chinese boy in a story filled with danger, bloody violence, and mythical creatures then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
R. Violence, gore.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“That’s why she’s angry! She’s not mean! She’s mad!”
Kickstarter Link 1: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jakesunrise/the-return-0/description
Kickstarter Link 2: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jakesunrise/the-return-of-jake-sunrise-four-stories-high/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32
Violent Pages: 16, for 50% 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 – 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 – 4
“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.”
