Art: Federico Zumel
Colors: James Brown
Letters: Justin Birch
Review: Art Bee
A couple of weeks ago while
I was checking out at my LCS, the graphic novel Roulette was sitting on the
wire rack with its shiny, foily letters, and we all know how shiny things
affect me.
Needless to say the impulse
buy was made, and the $9.99 price point made it a bargain.
Afterward while driving
home I began to wonder whether or not I had ever heard of Big City Comic
Studios (the publisher) and if the company was located in an actual big city.
It would be hilarious if it
was located in a small rural town.
Alas it is located in
Orlando, Florida…
Roulette is a horror comic
more attuned to a slasher film. Like many slasher films the identity of the
killer is typically left to the end of the story, and this one is no different.
The story begins with the introduction of Kim Barnett, daughter of a wealthy
businessman. Kim arranges travel for her fiancé and six friends to Las Vegas
for some fun.
Upon arriving the group is
given an invitation to download and use an app called Roulette. The invitation
says:
“Would you like to trade places? All participants must download the Roulette app at www.madeyourchoice.com. Each participant will be given a time to meet downstairs and enter the red limousine. Choices will be made. Lives will be changed. Remember, you can always say no.”
All of their pictures
appear on a wheel that spins and randomly selects one, and the first one chosen
is Kim. She leaves and enters the red limousine as do they all. The next
morning all but Kim wake up in a hotel room. Shortly, the app shows Kim tied to
a chair and gagged with a masked man wielding a knife.
“Would you change places?”
That’s all I am giving you
because that is where the story truly takes off. My complements to the writer
for making that story flow very well. The suspense is perfect for the length of
the story, and the writer has done an incredible job eliminating useless
information. It would have been nice to have the characters fleshed out just a
bit more because they all seem a little bland with the exception of Kim’s
father, Mr. Bartlette. He seems to have been given more depth than any other
character and most of that depth is him being a royal prick.
The overall artwork of
Roulette is very good, but I have had mixed feelings about it. The colors are
darker tones, setting the grim tone of the story, which is appropriate. Most of
the panels are drawn well but there are a select few in which faces are
distorted in strange ways. Also, there are several areas where lines seem to be
scribbled thicker, leaving a sloppy impression.
Roulette has been a
worthwhile impulse buy. The experience of this story livened up my day which is
the great thing about a good, suspenseful horror story; it helps you appreciate
your life as it is.
The Big City Comics website
doesn’t have much on it, but what is there looks like it might be worth
checking out.
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