Zero Hunters
Staff: Jay Carvajal, Marc Borstel, Federico & Karina Lopizzo, and Carlos Razetto
Overview:
“Vampire” + “film noir” + “cop”. Follow that formula to the letter and you basically have everything in this comic.
Review:
So I’m once again on a vampire book. I’ve stated before that it’s a genre I’m not super fond of, but I’m excited to dig into it. Sometimes this genre surprises me, so let’s sink our fangs into Zero Hunters #1!
The first thing that grabs me is that this is a scifi and I’m a fan of the clean cut modern art style they use in this comic. The lettering is nothing shy of professional grade. There is excellent use of silhouettes (which fits with the tone quite well). Some of the character designs (particularly for some of the vampires) are quite cool, but others lack any real inspiration (including Garrick, the protagonist). This comic also makes great use of this color and takes advantage of the visual medium it uses. Both visuals and script skip happily across the pages of this free 34 page comic.
But I’m afraid that’s where the praise ends. The plot is very simplistic and exposition heavy, the art has a few slip ups (though is generally pretty solid), and the main character is forgettable. A few of the onomatopoeia bugged me as they didn’t exactly jive with the fantastic lettering.
A lot of the plot relies on film noir clichés and stock characters. You can see everything coming and nothing is really new or unique. It seems like someone threw a few darts as a board with ideas tapped to it and came up with “vampire”, “film noir” , “cop” comic. Near the end they get into this interesting plot point about how the protagonist and the antagonist are locked in eternal struggle across multiple lifetimes. A nice little twist, but it doesn’t save the comic.
Ultimately there is a lot of like about this comic but a lot of it falls by the wayside. The plot is cliché, but it has some saving elements. The art is good but it never really rises to the point where it’s noteworthy. The characters are blank slates, though at least they feel like people (through dialogue and action).
Indie Comic Review 