Return To Colombia With Narcos #1
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
It’s 1991 Medellin, Colombia. Don Pablo has been put in prison. Despite this, Medellin is still steeped in chaos. Don Pablo has been put in La Catedral, which is more country club than prison. He still runs his cartel and is surrounded by his sicarios, executives, and followers. Despite that, Don Pablo’s imprisonment has created the illusion of a power vacuum, so blood still runs through the streets of Medellin. Agents Murphy and Peña have been working on Pablo’s cartel for a decade, and they’ve just been paired with two rookies. Neither Murphy or Peña are happy about it and the four agents are called to investigate a hit on one of Pablo’s shipments. It’s low-casualty and has little product, so Murphy and Pena think it a waste of time. However, new agent Raskow thinks this could be a lead on something big.
Narcos #1 commences IDW’s spin-off comic for the popular Netflix series. It still focuses on Murphy and Peña’s mission to bringing down Pablo Escobar, but now they have to work with a couple of new agents: Raskow and Hirsch. Murphy and Peña worry that Raskow and Hirsch are green and inexperienced, but both have been in warzones of their own.
Admittedly, I’ve not watched Narcos, though I know the broadest strokes of the story thanks to the news.
I don’t have an investment in Narcos or it’s characters though, so Narcos #1 reads like a standard investigative narrative. Murphy and Peña have been through hell and now they have to deal with two greenhorns who aren’t actually all that green. Don Pablo hovers in the background like a shadowy malignant force. The narration and dialogue aren’t bad, but they add little flair.
Vic Malhotra’s artwork is solid and it adds the grit and ominous atmosphere that Narcos needs for its plot to gel. The comic oddly avoids the most monstrous acts committed by Cartel de Medellin and their ilk, so there isn’t anything especially gory in this comic. That could have added some grim personality to the proceedings and given Malhotra something to play with. Cris Peter’s color art is appropriately dark and eerie, and that does aid the book.
Narcos #1 is a fairly standard crime comic. Despite the show to which it’s attached, the comic doesn’t give the reader much to latch onto. It’s competently-made, but I can’t quite give it a recommendation.
Narcos #1 comes to us from writer Ryan Ferrier, artist and cover artist Vic Malhotra, color artist Cris Peter, letterer Neil Uyetake, and variant cover artist Nelson Daniel; and Vic Malhotra.
Final Score: 5/10
