Zufan #1 is a comic written by Beserat Debebe with art by Stanley Obende and Kelechi Nwaogwugwu. A woman in the running for president of the African Alliance wants to broker a deal with aliens. This story is very diplomatic with political machinations and behind-the-scene dealings. Our main people are Zufan Tesfa and her husband Blessing. They help give us a perspective on how humans view these new very helpful guests. The aliens look humanoid and due to large amount of sci-fi media they’ll probably look familiar. The plot at its core is about the different races(?) of aliens partnering up with different countries and the fallout that occurs from these pairings. You’ll see closed-door deals and public smiles that give this story a Cold War feel. The action is pretty light here, we have flashes here and there but this is more political thriller than anything. The dialogue reads like a presidential debate for the most part with slight moments of downtime where the big words can be put away. For a diplomacy-heavy comic this doesn’t have any wordy pages. All in all this is an entertaining, thought-provoking debut comic about aliens coming down to earth and engaging with our political theatre.

            This comic is drawn in a very smooth-looking modern style. The coloring is great and it is easy on the eyes as it never gets too bright. The bounce between dark and light scenes gives this comic a tense atmosphere. Most of the locations are diplomacy related like conference rooms, a debate stage, and a place akin to a war room. This is not the most expressive comic but due to it being political in nature means the characters generally have muted emotions. The faces on both humans and aliens are thick with detail which makes me wish we had more scenes of them emoting. Some of these aliens lack hair, others lack noses, but if you grew up watch Star Wars or Star Trek or played Mass Effect that won’t look out of place. And if you have partaken of the aforementioned media the outfits here fit right in as well; with an African flair on specific characters.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like political thriller starring a woman and dealing with aliens and centered in Africa this is for you.

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

PG-13. A bit of violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“From now on, force will be met with force. We will be returning the fire.”

 

Physical Link: https://etancomics.com/product/zufan-issue-1-english-hard-copy/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/etancomics/zufan/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 28

Violent Pages: 3, for 11% 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 – 2

“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

“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.”