The major comic companies get enough reviews and press, it’s time for the creator-owned and indie series to get some love and judgment. Indie review takes up-and-coming indie and creator-owned series and puts them through the review process so you can confidently support the best of the small press and passion driven projects in the comic industry.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Sex #1

Genre/s: Drama/Superhero

Writer: Joe Casey (Automatic Kafka, Haunt)

Artist: Piotr Kowalski (Gail, Malignant Man)

Colorist: Brad Simpson (Vengeance, Haunt)

Letterer: Rus Wooton (The Walking Dead, The Manhattan Projects)

Graphic Designer: Sonia Harris (Grim Leaper, Butcher Baker)

Publisher: Image Comics

Number of Issues: 1 (on-going)

Page Count: 21

Price: $2.99

 

The Review Bit

Sex! The title alone will sell this book and make it pop on the shelves, while minds shift to dirty thoughts of what could fill this comic’s pages. I mean, this is written by the same man who is responsible for the brilliant Butcher Baker, Righteous Maker, and that book had a fair bit of nudity and naughtiness…surely this will be downright pornographic! Even I, who practically places author Joe Casey on a pedestal, figured that would be the case and I had no problem as I opened the first issue with that in mind. Surprisingly, while Sex does contain nudity and some slight form of sex in its pages, Sex comes across as a very well thought out and dark piece of sequential art I want heavily to compare to Watchmen.

But before I get into the story or how I feel it compares to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic comic, there are some oddities I want to point out when first glancing at Sex. First off, it is almost weird to see the Man of Action logo on a book titled Sex. Sure, Joe Casey is one quarter of the studio, but many people are more likely to affiliate the group with shows like Ben 10 than something so provocatively titled. Secondly, Piotr Kowalski is not the first artist that would come to mind when thinking sexy men or women. However, perhaps both of these problems arise more so from the opinion that Sex should be about sex.

Issue #1 of Sex opens with the return of protagonist Simon Cooke to his hometown of Saturn City. Simon Cooke is an ex-superhero that went by the name Armored Saint, but now returns to a high end corporate life at his company, The Cooke Company. He seems like your Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark superhero archetype now retired, but something is amiss. Cooke seems adrift, constantly lost in thought and distant as he interacts with his friends and associates affiliated with his company. Whether he still longs for the fight of being a masked vigilante or he is depressed over whatever reasons he quit it is unsure. While we are introduced to Simon Cooke’s friendlier supporting cast, we also meet those who might soon become antagonists. There is a young black male, named Keenan, that works in kitchen of a high end restaurant/club; Dolph and Chacha, two presumably gay men that might even be related as they run a “protection service” under the name of the Alpha Brothers; and an older kingpin like criminal mastermind known simply as the Old Man. These four supporting characters all seem to have very interesting tales to tell, but little is truly explained about them in this opening issue. After a basic round of narrative introductions, the reader then follows Simon Cooke into a seedy part of Saturn City surrounded by prostitutes, sex hotels, and adult theaters. Surely this is the part many readers have been waiting for, as Cooke rents a room at a high end facility and lifts the cover to a window showcasing two fetishly dressed women. It’s a very high end live peep show booth that Simon Cooke has found, and the readers looking for sex may finally sit back and enjoy as two women caress and taste one another explicitly on panel. But as some readers focus on these scenes, Simon Cooke sits almost emotionless, giving us flashback panels to a chat he once held that might have been the reason he gave up the superhero game. The oddly mixed scene of titillation and dark memories eventually quickly cuts to a surprise twist at the end of the issue, but that is not all there is to Sex #1.

Readers of Joe Casey’s Butcher Baker series will likely recall his backmatter writings from each issue, which are referenced in the backmatter of Sex #1. Well Casey does go on about his backmatter writing, he also incorporates 2 letters he has received well promoting Sex, and notes that future issues will also feature some form of letter column merged with his backmatter style of going on. This issue’s backmatter seems to take a poke at the ‘Big Two’ that are Marvel and DC comics. He brings up the ideas of promoting comics that think outside the box and how great alternative comics have been and are at doing this. Like much of Casey’s backmatter from Butcher Baker it doesn’t really go anywhere, but it is fun to read and rather thought provoking.

As for the writing Casey provided in the story of Sex #1, it is quite an interesting tale. Casey provides some interesting characters that I really want to know more about and a universe that obviously has a deep history I now am looking forward to uncovering. He adds a unique way of emphasizing certain words with color highlighting that might have a deeper meaning…or might not, but were still done rather intriguingly by the talented hand of Rus Wooton. I want to also give credit to Joe Casey for providing innuendo of gay sex and visual interaction of lesbian sex, yet almost no real straight sex beyond the inference of a guy taking a girl home or masturbating to lesbians. It really is a surprise when you purchase a book entitled Sex that there is no hetero sexual activity in the pages of its first issue. The book is almost like that classic joke of an opening line where a speech or written work starts out boldly with the word ‘SEX!’ simply to grab attention to something the author deems important. Could that be Joe’s purpose in naming the series Sex? It’s hard to say just yet, but the comic right now gives a vibe very similar to that of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. The writing has that somber tone while including certain tropes like retired superheroes, jumping into a universe that has a rich history, a mystery that involves death, a young black kid surrounded by superheroes, and of course a bit of nudity and sex that isn’t truly the focus.

On the art end, the book still screams of 1986’s Watchmen comic series. Artist Piotr Kowalski and colorist Brad Simpson piece together an absolutely beautiful comic that seems to be visually similar to Dave Gibbons and John Higgins’ style in the classic DC series. The characters all have a rather simple style, yet are visually unique, wearing basic suits and clothing of an indeterminable decade yet modern era. No one is wearing tights, masks, or other superhero regalia. Furthermore, Simpson’s basic colors and tones just scream Higgins’ work on Watchmen. Even Sonia Harris’ graphic design for the book must at least be a nod to Watchmen. But even if these similarities were purely coincidental, everyone on the team is putting together something that is visually quite amazing.

 

The Rating Bit

Sex #1 is an interesting first issue that truly makes me believe this could be a brilliant comic book series. Whether it is the art, the color, the textures, or the writing, everything about this comic is good and when it all comes together it is something amazing. It might not be the series you were hoping for if you came based on hopes of pure unadulterated sex which the title might have promised you in your mind, but it does have promises of being quite interesting. I give the series a very strong 9 out of 10 based on a quite intriguing first issue and promises of something far greater at a price of just $3 an issue. This is a book definitely worth picking up for any fans of good sequential art and those looking for what could be a modern day Watchmen.