Spotlight: Decay #1

Decay Issue 1: A Supernatural Thriller

With Issue one in the bag and fully funded on Kickstarter issue two is coming to Kickstarter in May and I had the chance to have a look at the opening story and give my thoughts.

Decay is a Supernatural revenge thriller comic book set in the busy, beautiful city of New Orleans. The impressionable and warm hearted 'DK' is caught in the wrong place and wrong time when tragedy greets him with the death of his best friend, Marcus. Disregarding the consequences for him and his love ones, DK seeks out revenge on the person he blames for his friend dying. 

Anthony D. Stokes, Marc Oliver & Joni Hagg

I like the way the beginning of this first issue brings you into the story.

We start at an ending, which also happens to be a beginning as we see from the final panel.

What follows is the build-up to this ending/beginning with some good character moments and introductions. There are some clever ideas with the pacing of not only the story, but the comments and words from the characters. At this point in time, the cast is small, and I can see how that cast could be increased or kept at a smaller size to make it more intimate. We get a good idea of the characters and their motivations. What they have previously gone through and what they want. In a short amount of time, we get to the crux of the story, ready to jump in for the next issue.

The story itself works well as the tragedy we see in the beginning comes to fruition, and adds something more to what we know. This linked with the theme of the story and what is detailed in the panels is very interesting - and makes us want to see what is in issue #2.

The art and lettering are well done, with some good scenes - both showing some moments that bring a wry smile and the horror aspects in it - in this case, the horror is all too real, while the classic horror is to come. The characters are well defined and you know who is who.

This was an enjoyable read with an interesting premise. I look forward to issue 2.

Decay issue 2 is available to pre-register on Kickstarter - you can sign up and join here.