Trish Out of Water #1 - Indie Review

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The Info Bit

Title: Trish Out of Water #1

Genre/s: Drama/Fantasy

Writer: Vince Hernandez (Fathom:Kiani, Charismagic)

Penciler: Giuseppe Cafaro (Extinction Seed, Soulfire)

Colorist: Ruben Curto (Grimm Fairy Tales) & Andrea Dotta of Studio Parlapà (Higher Earth)

Letterer: Josh Reed (Bugglegun, Fathom)

Publisher: Aspen MLT

Number of Issues: 1 (of 5)

Page Count: 22

Price: $1.00

The Review Bit

Aspen’s newest series is one of its first comics to share a universe with a pre-existing Aspen property but not be directly related or created by Michael Turner. Titled Trish Out Of Water, the series was created by Vince Hernandez and is almost reminiscent of the old romance comics of the late-1940’s through 70’s. Even better, being part of Aspen’s 10^th anniversary ’10 for 10 initiative’, the first issue is only a dollar!

Trish opens up with an intensely in your face feel of the modern life of a teenage girl. We see Trish as she wakes up for school in her poster covered bedroom, lazily thinking of the dozen or so things that might pop into a teenagers mind as they awake. She checks all her various social networks, from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, while being surrounded by countless aspects of pop culture. Then various readers might be further sucked into their adolescence as Trish here’s a far too familiar sound of her parents arguing outside her door. It is unclear what the argument is about, but Trish’s mother leaves in a huff as we learn of the close and loving relationship Trish has with her father. Never-the-less, the comic begins on what could be your average Monday for a high school student. But as the week progresses, it is anything but. Trish starts to feel odd and notice, in her uncertain health, she is turning into and effecting water like a certain member of the Blue who has her own long running comic series (and shares a name with the publisher, while celebrating a 15^th anniversary this year; congrats Aspen Matthews!). Trish is scared by this, but keeps it to herself as the more traditional drama of being a teenage girl presents itself: friends, parties, and her boyfriend, Steven. Trish seems to love her epic partying boyfriend, but he is a little disappointed that she is not giving him her full attention, unaware of the watery problems she’s going through. Meanwhile, Trish’s mother is having problems of her own when she receives a mysterious package at work. On Friday, Trish leaves an early sushi dinner with her friends, where the mysterious underwater race known as the Blue is a topic of conversation, when her powers start acting up. She rushes home, hoping everything will be fine when she gets there. Sadly it is anything but, as Trish comes home to an experience that makes a bad night several million times worse…and that’s just the start of the unbelievable turn of events that wraps up the series’ opening issue. I dare not spoil it for readers, but I honestly can’t imagine a young girl’s world falling apart worse than Trish’s does in just 4-pages, and that is before the final surprise splash page!

Vince does an incredible job here capturing the life of a modern teenage girl, with all the constant connections to social media, technology, high school drama, etc. This is great as it makes Trish seem like a very tangible character, but it also allows for a ton of hilarious little easter eggs for fans. With so many modern pop cultural references, starting from the first page on Trish’s bedroom wall posters, there’s a ton of little jokes and telling signs of her personality to take in. Some of these cultural references are just close enough to be humorous and not direct, such as posters for ‘Kinkin Park’ and ‘The Walking Pepp’, but there are also more blatant moments like various Aspen comic covers. In this we also see some of the connections to Fathom, with little nods of anti-Blue sentiment via sketches of Kiani and Aspen that are marked over with giant No symbols (the iconic red circle with a backslash through it). These, along with Trish’s powers and conversation mentioning the Blue, subtly tie the two titles together in the same universe. Still, the easter eggs the creative team have hidden in this issue persist beyond, with additional things like colorist Ruben Curto’s Iron Maiden related Facebook post being hidden on Trish’s Facebook feed. Fans with a keen eye will likely have a lot of fun scouring the pages.

In the same, this heavy usage of extra real world detail and references does have its flaw, as it becomes sometimes a little overwhelming and pulls your attention away from the story. There are also a few slightly funny mistakes made in these, like Trish having 2 different jars of something in her fridge that hold nutritional labels copied and pasted off of a real bag of tortillas. It doesn’t truly affect the story or art in anyway, but it is a little odd while being humorous for those looking that heavily into the books minor details.

In Vince’s writing of the characters, not only does he capture the drama of that age, but he manages to capture the general chaos of a teenage mind. The writer brings back thought bubbles (which letterer Josh Reed skillfully provides), a form of rarely used narration in modern comics that was often replaced with captions. In these, particularly on the first page, you see the scattered thoughts of Trish and the many things going through her mind at various points in the story. It is a welcome addition that not only reminds me of the old romance comics that were particularly popular in the 50’s, but adds to the fun and dramatic feel of the title.

Perhaps my favorite part of this comic is Giuseppe Cafaro’s art. Cafaro draws some beautiful and sexy figures in a style that is much more like what you’d find in his home country of Italy than in most US comics. I want to say it almost reminds me of legendary comic artist Milo Minara’s style. The pencils for the comic seem to lack ink, giving the art a raw sketchy appearance. This unfortunately causes the colors to come off a little flat now and then. Yet I find this wonderful, adding to the books unique art style. Furthermore, with no superhero spandex or 90s style revealing ‘bad girl’ outfits, the comic must rely on more traditional fashion that Cafaro put together quite nicely, adding to that feel of a realistic group of teenagers. In the coloring department, Ruben Curto and Studio Parlapa do some brilliant lighting over rather soft colors that highly compliment Cafaro’s art. With this combination of art style and non-action based comic writing, it feels more like I’m reading a comic imported from Europe than something produced in the US for its superhero loving audience. It also exists in high contrast to Fathom, despite sharing a universe, as the issue focuses more on characters living in a world of super powered beings. To make an analogy, if Fathom were The Avengers movie, Trish would be the Agents of SHIELD TV series.

Finally, after the very enjoyable 20-page story, Vince provides a short 2-page afterword on the series’ creation. Included are some really cool character design sketches by Cafaro that add to the comic like a great DVD extra, but are even more amazing considering the whole package is yours for just a dollar.

The Rating Bit

Trish Out of Water #1 is a great read with wonderful art while existing as a breath of fresh air in the often repetitive American comic book industry. The story has wonderful drama, properly voiced teenagers, and some amazing surprises at the end of the incredibly drawn issue. That makes it easy to give Trish a stellar 9 out of 10, as well as very sincere suggestion that you all go and buy your own copy. This might easily be the comic that could turn your non-comic reading friends into fans of sequential art. While it isn’t your traditional spandex and punch throwing series of panels, Trish Out of Water is a wildly entertaining read.