Advance Review: `We Are Scarlet Twilight’ #1 Starts With A Shocking Twist

We Are Scarlet Twilight has all the bearings of a classic 1930s’ sci-fi story.

There’s the mysterious menace facing the city. Citizens are scared to go out at night. There’s the wonderfully cheesy dialogue like: “Gentlemen, I’ll ask one last time. Will you turn away from your evil work?” And outrageous bad guy names like Satanika and Doctor Occulto. There’s even an intrepid female reporter who knows more than she is letting on.

That makes things all the more shocking when, in the first few pages, hero Captain Lancet puts his fist through one of the baddies and proceeds to drink his blood. It’s a shocking twist at the beginning of this limited series that clearly illustrates this is not going to the kinds of story you’re expecting. They call Captain Lancet the “terror of the underworld” for a reason.

Benjamin Morse, a creative team of one with responsibility for writing, artwork, colors and even lettering, does a terrific job in crafting a story that we think at first is a familiar one. But with twists like a heroic vampire stamping out the mysterious cult, as well as an equally shocking ending, this initial chapter in the limited series has more than enough excitement and intrigue to keep readers waiting for next month’s issue.

Morse is equally adept as an artist. He evokes a 30s’ sense of style into each page, and sticks to a subdued color palette, which is fitting given the dark vampiric overtones. He also wisely mixed pages crammed with panels with dynamic full-page splashes. Each page is well thought out and executed.

This first issue is a terrific start to a series that is bound to have people talking – and could wind up getting Morse more notice at larger publishers. That would be another great twist.

We Are Scarlet Twilight #1 will be available for purchase in May 2023.