Trill League: Episode 1 is a comic created by Anthony Piper. The Trill League is forced to split up and spread out as dangerous criminals are on the prowl. This is a superfolk comic with a large cast, comedy, violence, and a lot of references. The main kid for this tale is Sparrow, real name D’shaun Gardner. He has been the sidekick of the Trill League leader Blackmayne after the death of his parents and he is known for being abrasive, not listening, and always having something to say. Blackmayne is a multimillionaire who uses his resources for crimefighting and keeping the city safe. Some of the other members of the Trill League are: Soul, Quiver, Swift, Wondeisha, and Swolemayne. A lot of these characters have appearances and abilities that are references to famous musicians and other superheroes. The story begins with D’Shaun and his best friend TamTam walking home from the store when they are accosted Team Gucci. This duo is berated for walking down this street and this confrontation leads to name-calling, fat jokes, and rude statements about mothers. The violence here is hard-hitting and brutal but without blood or gore. The pacing here fluctuates from steady to fast with the rare slow moment. The tone here is part-superhero movie and part-Black(culture) comedy. The dialogue is mainly conversational with a lot of aggressive and humorous back-and-forth. There are constant references to TV shows, songs, and famous people in general. There is only one word-heavy page though others can get close; some of the text bubbles can get a bit thick as well. This is an exciting and funny debut issue that does a good job of giving us a well-rounded look at multiple characters while telling a compelling story that you’ll want to follow.

            The art here is drawn in a sharp, detailed, modern style with significant shading. The color range is wide and realistic(when possible) with a lot of variety from page-to-page. This takes place mainly in and around buildings so most of the scenery is of the concrete kind. There isn’t a main location as the shifting character perspectives and travel result in many different areas being seen. Places that we’ll visit are: dark alleys, sunny streets, skyscraper rooftops, and private, comfy homes. The backgrounds tend to show the surroundings but they are usually blurred, they can also be a gradient color. The expression level here is very high as these characters don’t really hide how they feel. The emotional range is wide with happiness, sadness, anger, irritation, annoyance, fear, and confusion. The faces have a good amount of detail and show every look clearly, sometimes even getting animated. Some of the weaponry used is clearly a reference to more famous equipment, one example being the Green Lantern ring. The violence here is brutal and destructive but there isn’t any blood or gore. The action scenes come in bursts with a good panel count helping it all flow smoothly. Skintight costumes are the norm for everyone with the ladies usually having their legs uncovered. Model/pro-athlete bodies are the norm for most of these characters.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like superhero stories with a large, all-Black main cast with comedy, drama, violence, and a whole bunch of references to music and media then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, sexual situations.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I will no longer stand idle while you attempt to besmirch my comrade.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trillleague/trill-league-comic/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 65

Violent Pages: 16, for 25% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 2% 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 – 1

“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 for most of it, 4 for one page

“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.”