Next World Problems!

A few months ago the lovely people at the previously-unknown-to-me Hound Comics* based out of Bethpage, New York got in touch with Give Me Comics Or Give Me Death. They wanted to see if we’d like to review some of their products. Being rabid comic readers, we of course said yes. I said I’d pick up the task as the Mike half of our operation does almost everything else. 

I was slightly bowled over when Etan Wish and Kim Crockett (Directors of Operations and Public Relations respectively) sent me digital links to 30-some comics - I’d been expecting maybe three! Not that free comics are ever a bad thing, but given my already prodigious consumption and my various other hobbies and, you know, having a job, simply fitting in reading them has proved a challenge! First world problems, I know.

However, I followed the links to my free downloads at DriveThruComics.com, opened up the PDFs on my iPad, and got to reading. Given the volume of different books, and in a desperate effort to fulfil the oft-made promise our pod listeners will have heard to add written material to this blog, these reviews will be split by title and will show up over the coming days (possibly lots of coming days - I need to practice guitar!). First up: Hound’s flagship series, Brimstone And The Borderhounds. 

The premise for this book is explained in slightly overwrought prose that takes up a full page - if this was an elevator pitch you’d need to be in the Burj Khalifa to get to the end. It boils down to this: various afterlife domains (hell, nirvana, etc) compete for souls. Souls that escape are hunted by bounty hunters called Borderhounds. The titular half-breed (half human, half hellguy) Brimstone leads such a squad with his crew, Dawg and Luscious. Thanks to his mongrel nature, he can also cross over into our world. Let the fun commence. 

(NB Brim and some of the other characters are based on the Hound-founders and co-creators’ other jobs as pro-wrestlers on the indie circuit. Sometimes you can tell, usually it makes no difference. Just mentioning it.)

Brimstone (the hell-born bounty hunter) was created by Brimstone (the wrestler) and MH Carnevali, who also writes the first five issues with Brimstone penning the sixth. The rest of the team on the first six books was Sajad Shah providing pencils for Allen ‘Vandal’ Chickering to ink and the colours and letters were handled by Thiago Castro. 

The first four issues are given over to a story called 'Another Cold Day', charting the activities of a ruthless and presumed-deceased lunatic called Mr Hostile (no spoilers here as to where he’s from and what goes down). It also introduces Detective Altar who is a recurring, supporting cast member. There is horror and action a-plenty by the end of the arc as the mood of the book is established without fuss. 

The strongest thing that the opening arc has going for it is the premise. It is versatile, offering superheroics, horror and detective/crime tropes without beginning to overextend itself. Many creator-owned comics are born of a good idea but one with a limited number of stories that can be told. You could easily see Brim running for many, many issues as he chases down menaces in various realms, including our own. 

I suspect it is not fair to judge the characters after only a handful of tales; you’re not only reading fledgling characters but also the work of fledgling creators. That being said, Brim, Luscious and Dawg have defined if not groundbreaking personalities - I could easily imagine them in the wrestling ring as they operate with limited nuance and maximum brash action.

The script is pacy and this is quite refreshing after many years of reading mainstream, written-for-the-trade comics. Some of the dialogue is corny and heavy-handed - it’s all a lot more Fox than HBO - but there are no pretensions here, so it works in a trashy but enjoyable way. It’s aiming for guilty pleasure rather than Eisner, and mostly hits the mark. 

The pencils from Shah improved vastly across the first four issues. At the start his ambition often outstripped his ability with very 90s looking panel layouts and some empty backgrounds. In this, the muddy, overly dark colours from Castro don’t help and too many pages look like you’ve put a red filter on your screen. However, it is interesting to see a penciller improve so rapidly from issue to issue. 

The fourth issue was a bit of a breakthrough, artistically. The colour palette seemed to move on from red to discover the rest of the spectrum and Vandal’s inks were far less heavy-handed. Shah’s work still occasionally veers from cartoonish and detail-light to heavily-pouched, 90s-style, frowning heavyweights in a single page. The whole package starts to come together better and look a lot more professional and the storytelling is usually clear. 

Following the initial arc, you get a shorter, hell-set tale. This serves to add context to Brimstone’s situation and introduce more of the supporting cast and some other teams of Borderhounds.

The latest two issues I’ve read also change up the creative team slightly, Sam Carlin inking, Shawn Reynolds doing lettering and Ozzie Martin (seven) and Blair Smith (eight) doing the colours. Interestingly, issue eight features the Project Meridian Foundation and highlights the real-world issue of human trafficking and child slavery, done in a way that deepens the backstory of Dawg and Luscious and so enhances the narrative whilst also raising awareness - well done!

Here at GMCoGMD we always rate our reviews out of ten (one being dreadful, five an average book, ten being awesome) and make a point of saying we’ll use the full range (as many reviews only ever seem to use six to nine).

So how do I rate Brimstone And The Borderhounds’ first eight issues? I really like the premise - it’s interesting and versatile. The characters vary from cliche to curious. The writing is mixed, sometimes barrelling along with comedy and action without wasting time on pointless exposition, but at other times delivers clunky, unlikely dire-logue that would have seemed dated in the 80s. As mentioned, the art improves from issue to issue across the board, with the pencils gaining confidence and the inking and colours gaining clarity as the series progresses. 

So, my first foray into Hound Comics’ world scores a healthy five out of ten overall, and I am enthusiastic about the future of this book as it has plenty of legs.

Now, back to the iPad…

Lee  

* For those wanting to know more about Hound, check out the company bio on ComicVine here: http://www.comicvine.com/hound-comics/4010-2768/