COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Superior Carnage #1
Never been a big fan of Carnage. Yeah he looks cool with his crimson “suit” dripping all over the place and slaughtering people, but I found him somewhat dull and lacking when it comes to character and story. Sorry to Carnage fans but that’s how it’s been for me. But that’s all in the past.
Superior Carnage brings us a Carnage that’ll change all thoughts that he’s just a plain and dull villain. Kevin Shinick and Stephen Segovia brings Carnage back as a force to be reckoned with, reeking of terror, evil and malice.
The story takes place in an undisclosed prison filled with B-list villains. #1 starts off with some out-of-place white collar petty criminal who narrates how he got there just because people decided to fill these prisons up since they’re empty (or emptied) most of the time anyway. Then comes in Cletus Kasady, better known as Carnage. Of course, what happens next involves Carnage doing some carnage (that’s what he does best!) but the homicidal maniac also seems to have gotten himself involved in one grandiose scheme. Who’s behind it all I won’t say, but the setting seems plausible and it’ll be interesting to see how this will play out.
Leaving the initial narration to another person, someone who passes well as a normal non-powered guy in the Marvel universe, provides the reader with a taste of what it’s like to feel confusion in jail, terror as Kasady’s brought in a wheelchair (check out his encounter with Scarlet Spider in Minimum Carnage), and despair as the red-clad killer slashes off everybody in its path. It’s an easy starting point too for those who don’t read Marvel or those who lack the background when it comes to Spidey’s world. Characters and setting are introduced smoothly and there’s a good flow from one happening to another, making it all easy to understand.
There’s a good mix of jokes, dark humour and action and all of that’s really brought to life by Stephen Segovia’s pencils and inks and Jay David Ramos‘ colors. Can’t help but commend the details and how each and every character is defined. Panels containing action definitely look gruesome, which is a must for Carnage, and there’s no part of the comic where the reader wouldn’t think that confronting Carnage isn’t horrifying.
What I find as a downer though, is that while other characters where presented smoothly either explicitly or via contextual clues, Carnage himself got a lil bit of introduction aside from him doing the carnage and creepy crawling/dripping action. While we get to know that yes he’s still homicidal and uncontrollable as ever based on what the other characters said about him, there wasn’t any chance to hear from the titular character himself, or peek into his mind at least. The narration and dialogues being done by people other than Carnage is good as it adds the taste of drama, despair and terror, but it doesn’t seem to be enough if we don’t get a taste of the titular character himself.
All in all I find this take on Carnage great. Looks like he’ll be in for something big this time and I wouldn’t mind seeing whether the beast would try to get free, or take part in somebody else’s villainous plans. The art got me hooked and the story’s easy to follow so new readers can jump right in. However, I doubt #1’s the type that will pique the interest of new readers easily. It’ll be a challenge for the Superior Carnage team to give depth to Carnage and not just let other characters run the show, or fall right into the same flow as the previous stories: Carnage escaping prison, wrecking havoc and getting caught again in the end.
It’s just the first issue though so no use worrying about what’s still to happen. By itself, Superior Carnage #1‘s an awesome issue and definitely worth reading. 4/5, perhaps. I expected seeing some action as bloody as it could get and I wasn’t disappointed. The cover speaks for itself!
REVIEW SCORE: 4/5
Oh and really really big thanks to Comic Odyssey!
