Advance Review – Dead Body Road #3 (Image)

Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Matteo Scalera, Moreno Dinisio
Release Date: 26th February 2014

Dead Body Road has an overarching story that is almost the exact same as every revenge movie ever written. The main character, Orson Gage’s (terrible name) family has been murdered and now he is out for revenge. Orson is the stereotypical ex-cop turned vigilante, dancing in the grey area between morality and complete insanity. Orson is easily comparable to other famous revenge seekers such as The Punisher and Max Payne; however, Orson carries significantly less guns and wears less gothic fashion based clothing.

The Issue opens up with a stereotypical ex-partner turned nemesis stand-off. Pointing guns and spitting venom from opposite sides of a poorly lit room. The familiar feel is compounded by the following scenes in this issue, including dodgy deals and beaten old bars. However, the final scene in Issue #3 is superb, taking seemingly throwaway aspects of each of the previous scenes and combining them into a cliff-hanger of Breaking Bad quality.

The art throughout Dead Body road features strong and harsh lines and grunge inspired colouring. The grunge feel translates into the fashion chosen for each individual character. Despite the gloomy feel and harsh lines the art is still detailed enough to remain grounded and realistic and provide Dead Body Road with strong, unique, visual identity.

Despite its many obvious flaws, Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera have created some easily readable and original from what is an overused stock-plot.

Rating: 3/5

INTERIOR ARTWORK PREVIEW
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