Gasolina #1 from the Skybound Imprint of Image Comics -
Randy and Amalia seem to be sugarcane farmers somewhere near Veracruz, Mexico. However, Randy - an American doctor, and Amalia - a beautiful but lethal Mexican woman, are way more than meets the eye. And they have dangerous a secret that kept them running and hiding for years. Just when it seems that they can stop looking over their shoulders, trouble finds them again. A missing boy. A mysterious pestilence attacking their crops. A weird, vicious death cult. And real, honest-to-goodness monsters. There's a storm coming for Randy and Mal...And there will be blood.
Seam Mackiewicz makes his first foray into comics in this atmospheric take on the drug war, and the influence, and power of the nightmare that has become the drug cartels. Mackiewicz is exploring some potentially combustible subjects here in this genre-bending crime/mystery/supernatural (sci-fi?) thriller, and I am looking forward to seeing how deftly he handles it all. Mackiewicz gives introduces us to his protagonists, Amalia and Randy, by showing us the world they inhabit, and the way that they interact with the people in it - they are kind but guarded, quick to lend a hand, and heroic, yet a lingering isolation and darkness surrounds them, separating them from their world, but never from one another. Though Mackiewicz gives us a wide view into the lives of our protagonist, and their struggles, he manages to keep much about them shrouded in a delicious mystery that will surely get me to buy the next issue. Then Mackiewicz throws in an enigmatic, savage cult/cartel resulting in the kidnapping of someone close to Randy and Mal, and a plague of monsters reminiscent of Ridley Scott's "Alien" and this book starts to feel like an odd, beguiling little rabbit-hole. Niko Walter, an artist with whom I am not in the least familiar, pulls out a strong showing on this first issue. His pencils are clean, precise, and no-frills, but very expressive - even if they seem a bit stiff at times. Mat Lopes' colors add heft to Walter's pencils and lend an oppressive atmosphere to the book which makes the story even more alluring. This comic has "MOVIE" stamped all over it...And strangely, it has the scent of great crime/mystery comics like 100 Bullets, or even mystery/crime thrillers with supernatural bents, like Greek Street. I can't wait for issue #2.
RATING: 9 out of 10. I need to see where this goes.
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