Filed under: Comic Reviews, Indie Comics | Tags: Alien, Delia Awesome, Michael Schneider, Rick, Spaghetti the Dog
With a title that includes the word “Awesome” it was pretty clear that this title was aiming high but why the hell not?
Now I read my fair share of indie/self-published titles but there is something that instantly hits you about that cover to issue#1…..the loneliness…..the gut-retching feeling that EVERYONE can relate to it…..and if anything that’s the true success of this release. Delia is likeable from the off, more for her beer-drinking, lazy flaws than anything else. Yet this issue opens with another human aspect as her seemingly “perfect” relationship with musician Rick comes to an abrupt end. We flash forward a month and her life is pretty much the same as she struggles to cope with the break-up. Work, the daily commute and the loneliness she feels are still taking its toll but she forces herself out to socialize and be in the same place as Rick.
All very real and all making Delia a character we like and care about so writer/artist Michael Schneider has created someone we could be friends with…..although that’s the problem….her friends are mainly Rick’s friends and she’s now seemingly become and outcast in the group. Although life on the outskirts of that social group quickly becomes somewhere she wants to retreat back to after she struggles to cope with her first run in with Rick, who is now seeing someone else and due to go on a European tour with the band and his new girl/booking agent.
Part of me dislikes Rick for that fact alone…….in a few pages I’m on Delia’s side and think that it’s Rick’s loss but hey…..that’s how well written this first issue is. The artwork helps maintain that feel too as a smart panel layout and flip between Delia’s coping mechanism of pill-popping, beer slugging and crying in the shower all help bolster that feeling of alone she is going through. There is the odd occasion where it slips into a cartoonier feel which is a real shame as it feels slightly jarring but as it’s only on the odd occasion it doesn’t take anything away from the book itself.
The next surprise we get as Delia storms away from the pub/club following her meeting with Rick is a nearby crash f something Delia first expects to be a plane. On closer inspection the plane turns out to be a UFO and the B Movie alien attack on Delia at first seems to be setting her on fire…..although that’s short-lived and the vomit response soon kicks in. The fear of being poisoned by this alien and it’s sudden disappearance blurs the edges of her being lost in her head and the realization that the cops are closing in. On reflex, she raises her hand in the air and flies off, only to crash through the wall of her apartment and traps her hand in the kitchen wall (I hate when that happens).
Her remaining friend, Spaghetti the dog, rests by her side as she slips in and out of consciousness and the one person she thinks to phone is Rick and we close out with her screaming t her phone for him to pick-up. Fun, immensely likeable and with a real heart to it….Delia awesome has a strong start with this first issue and there’s an undercurrent of Scott Pilgrim in both its look and its humour which isn’t to say that it’s not got its own character or style but there’s a similarity that indicates it’s quality more than anything else.
Well worth a read and I’m hoping that issue #2 hits soon to see where Delia goes next. Awesome by name, Awesome by nature.
You can find out more on this title and get a sneak peek at the cover for Issue #2 over at the website
7/10
G-Man
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