UltraMax Book 1 is written by Doug Wood with illustrations by Michael Pickard and colors by Warnia Sahadewa. Travis begins his prison sentence at an ultramax prison. This is a superhero comic that has prison drama, life-threatening violence, and a gritty feel. The main man here is Travis Holden, he’s been to jail for minor offenses but this is the first time he’s been to prison. His big crime was killing the superhero Red Hawk. He’ll meet other prisoners that were famous on the outside like the hero Bug-Eye and the criminal group Seven Sins. This story begins with Travis on the bus riding towards his new home where he’ll spend the next ten years of his life. He thinks about his past times being incarcerated and he has well-founded fears about his future. After stepping off the bus he receives some basic info about clothing, bedding, and a power restriction collar. This takes place in a world with superpowers and creatures that don’t look human. The violence can be brutal and a bit bloody but nothing beyond that. The pacing is steady and the tone is like that of a gritty prison show, but a bit more grim. There are dramatically and violently intense moments here as well as a pervasive air of danger. The dialogue is split between being conversational and giving us narration of Travis’ thoughts. There are no word heavy pages here. This is a debut issue that does a good job of showing us a dangerous and desperate situation that this scared man must survive in.
The art here is drawn in a rough sketch-like gritty style with decent shading. The color palette is a story-fitting drab with a lot of brown, orange, and gray. Low cut grass and mountains serve as the scenery here. The main location is this prison with most prominent area being the yard. There are some scenes set in the cafeteria, in cells, and outside the gates. The backgrounds are split down the middle between showing the actual surroundings and being a gradient color. The expression level here is a tick below average as sometimes you can’t make out the specific look. Emotions we’ll see here are anger, fear, shock, and sinister happiness. The faces have a good amount of detail but it can be somewhat messy so it can be hard to decipher the specific expression sometimes. The violence here is mainly delivered with fists and feet though occasionally an object will be used. There are brutal attacks and some blood but no gore. The action scenes come in bursts of no more than two pages at a time and they flow well.
“Is this worth reading?”
Yes, if this is up your alley.
“Would I like this?”
If you like gritty superhero prison drama stories that star a black man and feature violence along with a bit of mystery then this is for you.
“What would this comic’s film rating be?”
PG-13. Violence, blood.
“Could I get a quote from the comic?”
“Just put me in my cell so I can get on with my life.”
Digital Link: https://dougawood1.gumroad.com/l/UltraMax?layout=profile
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1741339986/ultramax/description
***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***
Probably Contains Spoilers
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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24
Violent Pages: 8, for 33% 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 – 2
“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.”
