THE OFFSPRING #1, available now from Correct Handed Productions, tells a tale of friends with broken, dysfunctional pasts who come together to save a pair of boys from a death cult.
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The Details
- Written By: David Whalen
- Art By: David Whalen
- Colors By: Jason Sylvestre
- Letters By: David Whalen
- Cover Art By: David Whalen, Jason Sylvestre
- Cover Price: $2.99 (dgital)
- Release Date: July 9, 2019
Was It Good?
I’m not sure.
There are pieces of this comic that tell engaging stories, particularly through the character introductions. You get to know each character through their actions and interactions with other characters over the issue,. However, there isn’t much by way of connective tissue that links each character together. In other words, this first issue feels oddly disjointed.
As a positive, there’s something completely unexpected about this comic. The characters have original backstories that bear out through flashbacks or by catching up with old friends. These characters feel organic and real, and that’s an unexpected achievement for any comic these days.
On the one hand, the pieces don’t quite fit together (yet), but I liked the individual pieces, so I’m interested to see how it all comes together in subsequent issues.
The art’s not bad, but the linework is a little rough. Straight lines are not quite straight. The curves are not quite smooth. And lines that are supposed to meet at a corner overlap a little too far. You get the general gist of the characters and the settings but there’s an underlayment of sloppiness that pulls the quality down.
However, the coloring is excellent. It’s so good that it elevates the linework to hide its flaws, and it makes for generally appealing visuals.
In all, the pieces of this story spark enough curiosity to wonder what’s going to happen next, but it would have served this first issue better to link the pieces together into a more cohesive story.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with a flashback of a young girl bursting out of the front door of her farmhouse home. She’s running away from her abusive father, but when he catches up to her and prepares to do the unthinkable, he’s suddenly injured in a brutal fashion off-panel.
Cut to the present day and the young girl is soon to be released from prison after years of criminal behavior.
Two buys ride their bikes down to the local creek to ogle a men’s magazine. Suddenly, some rough men appear and kidnap the boys.
Cut to a man, Tavish, visiting a childhood friend who works at the nearby school. Tavish is worried because his brother is missing (one of the boys by the creek) and he’s come to the school to seek help from his friend who has the gift of “sight.”
Cut to a strange house where a cult is preparing to sacrifice a pit full of children to take their power and gain immortality. The cult leader is a fanatic and pedophile who also happens to be under the influence of a malignant entity speaking from the shadows.
Final Thoughts
THE OFFSPRING #1 is not better than the sum of its parts, but the parts are strong enough to generate high engagement and curiosity on their own. Each scene feels organic and natural, and the mediocre art is buoyed by a fantastic coloring effort. At the very least, I’m interested to see how this story comes together.
Score: 7.5/10
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