The Shaolin Nun #1: Kickstarter Edition is a comic written by JC Carter with illustrations by Gregory Maldonado and colors by Lala Narita. A Buddhist Nun helps protect women in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. This is a slightly gritty dramatic comic with action and a women-only main cast. The first leading lady we meet is Heather Turner, she is a college student who works in a coffee shop after losing her scholarship. The titular “Nun” is Mei Yin, she is a Bhikshuni who wants to make a safe place for women and teach them how to defend themselves. The story begins with Heather leaving work at night after locking up and heading towards the bus stop. While she is walking she is stopped and circled by a group of bikers who laugh at her until she pepper sprays one of them in the face. They then chase her down an alley where she hits a dead end. The violence here is physical with some hard hits but no blood or gore. The pacing is steady with the tone of an 80’s action movie. The intense moments here are due to danger, violence, and dire situations. The dialogue is very conversational and we’ll get a decent look at Heather’s thoughts. There are no word-heavy pages. This is a debut issue about women discovering and using their strength to protect each other.
The art here is detailed with some light grittiness and a style reminiscent of 90’s comics. The color range is realistic and wide with a lot of dark tones as this mainly takes place at night. Besides a few quick panels of some grass and trees there isn’t any natural scenery to be found here. The primary locations for this comic are the coffee shop where Heather works and the temple where Mei Yin resides. The temple is still under partly under construction but it does have the important parts finished. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings but it will occasionally be a bold or gradient color. The expression level here is around average overall but it is higher if you exclude Mei Yin, as she maintains a stoic expression throughout. The emotional range consists of fear and terror along with some reflective, somber, and sad looks. The faces have a good amount of detail and show the different expressions very clearly. The violence here is usually physical with some hard hits but no blood or gore. The action scenes come in short bursts and flow well.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes.
“Would I like this?”
If you like gritty dramatic comics full of action with East Asian influence and that star a Black and Asian woman while featuring violence then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG-13. Violence.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“A sanctuary for women?”
Purchase Link: http://shaolinnun.com/
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jccarter/the-shaolin-nun/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
*
*
*
*
*
Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22
Violent Pages: 6, for 27% 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 – 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.”
