Review: ‘Antioch’ #1 Is Uneven With The Leads
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
The universe-building that begins in with the hero Frontiersman continues with environmentalist Antioch. Yet, how do these two connect? Also what good is Antioch, a former king, to the environment if he can’t act outside of a prison? Finally does Antioch have a plan, or is he just acting out?
Overall
5/10This first issue is rather reliant on reading The Frontiersman Volume 1 trade paperback (2022) and The Frontiersman Lock-Up Special (2022) in advance. Yes, writer Patrick Kindlon and artist/colorist Marco Ferrari are doing a continuation of that narrative, but this series is also supposedly its own thing. Thus, splitting the focus of the opening issue between being a continuation and a new work is not a good thing. In other words there is not enough proper set-up for this analogue of Marvel’s Prince Namor/The Sub-Mariner to truly justify this spin-off. At least so far as this first issue goes. On the plus side this issue continues the high quality universe-building that Kindlon and Ferrari are attempting with these series.
When it comes to the visuals there is some nice mirroring of moments. This is most noticeable after two different action scenes. Also the wraparound cover Ferrari creates is very good at highlighting the main character and his priorities. Though there is an overuse of darker hues on both Ferrari’s cover and the interiors. Not to mention select pages have coloring that looks like too much of a washing effect is in use. Going back to the plus side of things artist Jeff Stokely provides a variant cover with a great sense of scale and depth.
A certain character’s features are hard to discern, and no pronouns are in the text to identify their gender. Thus, the supplemental biography page is necessary to understand the character fully. It is a decent biography in terms of the amount of information it contains. However, it makes little to no sense for the path they chose. Speaking of supplemental pages, there are several that are just an essay explaining the reasoning for the series. While arguably interesting they do take up space that the narrative could use for set-up.
Lastly, letterer Jim Campbell does some high quality lettering. In particular the word balloons appear to be just the right size nearly every time.
Antioch #1 is out now from Image Comics.
