NIGHT #1 is the initial effort by fledgling publisher Jester Press. It also marks the initial published efforts for Buddy Prince, who provides the pencils, inks and lettering, and Troy Hasbrouck, who provides the story and words.
As a first effort, for both publisher and creators, NIGHT #1 is, well, not bad.
The story is an interesting experiment in genre-blending, in that it involves inner-city gang warfare, a mixed-gender set of investigative FBI agents, murder, mayhem and, oh, yeah, a werewolf. NIGHT opens with the gruesome discovery of at least thirty mutilated bodies in an old warehouse. The police investigation is usurped by two FBI agents, Voght and Whildon, who are searching for... something.
Meanwhile, a ruthless gang of street toughs, the Phreaks, attack a lost, elderly couple and walk off bragging about their vicious behavior, only to fall, in turn, under the attentions of something even more vicious. The man behind the wolf is taken in by a rival gang, which leads to a street riot and more death and danger.
I enjoyed the thrust of the story, itself. By injecting the tropes of horror fiction into the setting of urban investigative procedural, Hasbrouck is reaching for something new or, at the least, unusual. However, Hasbrouck sometimes falls prey to the tripwires facing new writers. The captions feel a bit overheated and, often, characters act in certain ways because the script says so, rather than through any of their own characteristics. Also, the duo could have used a copyeditor at some point. The frequent use of your for you're was enough to drag me out of the story at several points. The story ends on a strong cliffhanger, which left me wanting more. Hopefully, I won't have to wait too long to find out what happens next.
Unlike many artists, Prince knows his anatomy. People in NIGHT actually have ankles and aren't disproportionately grotesque. I did have a few quibbles though. For some reason, the size of people's eyes tend toward the manga-esque, taking up fully a quarter of their faces. Additionally, Prince's characters tend to stand with their legs spread wide enough to fit a horse under themselves. While the design of the werewolf tends to be reminiscent of Marvel's Sabertooth, I thought Prince did a good job otherwise in depicting the action.
Despite its flaws, NIGHT #1 is a worthy initial effort from Jester Press. NIGHT #1 is well worth picking up, if only to enjoy the first efforts of two creators who are going places. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to future outings.
~ Richard Jones
Richard Jones is an award-winning newspaper reporter who began writing fiction because he wanted to write about things he made up and not get fired for it. Newspapers are funny that way. His fiction has appeared in several venues, both pixel and print. His latest story, "The Mismatched Monster," a fantasy tale for younger readers, is available at http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/aoife/main.htm. For more information, visit his website at http://rain.prohosting.com/ogrerj.
