Filed under: Comic Reviews, Indie Comics | Tags: Raw Edge Comics, Shaun Dobie, The Red Mask From Mars, Vincent Hunt
Creator Vincent Hunt writes, draws & letters the Origin & issue #1 of his title The Red Mask from Mars – a horror sci-fi action comedy
The Origin issue does exactly what you’d expect and lays out where the hell our central character came from……and the truth is….he came from earth. Astronaut Douglas Stewart joins the rest of his team on a seemingly straight-forward research mission to Earth’s neighbouring planet. That isn’t how this plays out though as a red creature shaped not unlike a face-hugger grabs his attention…..and then grabs his face. Queue a timely visit to quarantine just as the rest of the crew become unknowingly infected with a space virus. Bullet dodged for Doug but not without it’s own consequences.
A fairly expected but well made Origin story that sets up the wider world that our alien/human hero will be thrown into – government control, alien invasions & more are now the main focus for Doug aka Red Mask.
Directly recruited to Xenosphere, a government project that takes care of all things Alien that appear on Earth and keep the hapless public in the dark about what’s really going on outside their own atmosphere…..a kind of Men in Black approach to attempted invasions, With Red Mask and the team around him proving to be the main barrier between the invaders & the human race. The government heads are having a hard time keeping the events hidden with each event representing a bigger threat and this issue builds us up to a big reveal of the next alien attack they’re going to face.
Both the Origin & issue #1 are written & drawn well by Vincent and act as a good start for a new character and the events around him. One grumble is that some scenes are a bit heavy on dialogue but the injection of a smart-ass one-liner from Doug breaks up the droning on of the Government agents and top brass….which may be the point. Artwise it’s pretty tight with the addition of more colour being the only difference between that Origin issue and #1. Initially I didn’t think the addition of colour was needed but Shaun Dobie worked well with Vincent’s artwork and layouts and it worked better than I thought. A fun start to a new character and if you take the time to go and get hold of that Origin issue first – you’ll be more committed to the title as a whole and be left on the same cliffhanger I was at the end of issue #1…..roll-on #2.
You can download the Origin issue now from the website as well as get your hands on a print or digital copy of issue #1. You can also keep up to date on appearances and future issues over on the Facebook page too.
You can also catch up with the team at True Believers Comic Festival next month at Cheltenham Racecourse (7th Feb)
7/10
G-Man
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