Catching Fire In A Bottle — Reviewing ‘Supernatural’ #1

Two brothers in their beloved car cruise the backroads of America, saving people and hunting things. It’s the family business.

Well, business is good once more as Greg Pak, Eder Messias, Thyago Brando, and Jeff Eckleberry bring the fantastic world of Supernatural back to comic books.

Set somewhere in the earliest days of the fifteen season long television show, Supernatural #1 is an interesting return to the characters. Being a first issue and returning a series that left screens five years ago, it has building to do. While it reads a little simplistic to someone that watched the entire series, Pak does a pretty solid job of setting up the characters, their dynamic, and their overall history.

Done in one style adventures are the bread and butter of the series, and always a welcome comic book format. There’s just something charming and well-crafted about being able to wrap up a story in one go, while leaving subplot crumbs in their wake. There is something very fitting to this story with the threat, the resolution, and the twist that Pak pulls off.

Brothers bickering, always willing to sacrifice for one another, opining about the true darkness of humanity. Love it. Feeling a mighty hankering to watch the series again.

A thoroughly dark rough vibe permeates this series.

Tasking Messias with the artwork was a pretty solid choice. Nothing about Supernatural as a concept is slick or smooth or easy. A baked in roughness, sharp angles mixed with softer beats, is very much what Messias has on the page. A touch of muddled grittiness is very welcome alongside the great depth and weighty presence of the visuals.

Facial expressions are pretty well done, as the appearance of the characters hit the spot. It’s close enough to be clear who they are meant to be, but nowhere near photo realistic to the series. That gives the series its own energy and identity even as its wading in the waters of another medium’s creation.

A matching heavier color palette adds to the aesthetic. Brando uses a lot of darker tones to set the mood through the book. He chooses colors from the denser side of the spectrum, outside of a few splashes of more vibrant colors that pop up throughout. Having the settings be so dark makes things like the fiery foe of the issue stand out even more, making the brighter stuff feel so appropriately out of place compared to the rest of the stuff we see.

As noted before, the brothers have a lot to say at times. Allowing the story to build their personalities and presence quickly for new readers. None of the dialogue overwhelms, even when more packed in, thanks to Eckleberry’s deft touch. It’s crafted with such care that the individual voices are apparent, and as I’m reading I can hear the actors in play.

That’s the benefit of doing adaptations. The familiar audience can fill in the holes through their knowledge, while the newer audience gets to start fresh. The best of both worlds really.

Supernatural #1 is now available from Dynamite Comics.