Unforgiven, the

Posted: Tuesday, May 14, 2002
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Unforgiven, the Writer(s): Mike Gagnon
Artist(s): Pamela Wright
Publishers: Self Published
From: Canada
Price: $2:80 (CAN) / $1.95 (US)

A teenage couple are getting beaten up by some demons in a Toronto Alley. Via flashbacks we learn that they had escaped from some sort of holding camp for sacrificial victims and gone on the run. Things look bad for them, what with backs being broken and torture a plenty, all looks lost until...

The storyline so far is sparse and violent, with no indication who the bad demons or the couple are. The Toronto setting looks modern, but the flashback scenes looked almost medieval. No body has a name so far. I'm not sure if I care what happens to the couple, and it is hard to see how they can survive their injuries. The story is underdeveloped so far, though the surprise at the end (I can't give it away, that would break the first law of comic reviewing) might attract some readers to search out the later issues.

The visuals don't help the comics' case, with the artwork appearing to have been done in ball point pen and color felts originally then digitally scanned into grey tones and reproduced. The colours mostly wash out to a light grey when printed, with the outlines being too thin. The drawings therefore lack clarity and the energy that the storyline strives for. Mike and Pamela might want to simplify the coloring and use some larger gauge pens for issue two. While it has a few pages that show that Mike and Pamela have good intentions, such as a great worm's eye view of the couple in a Toronto city scape, this issue lets them and the readers down with some very rough visuals. Better luck for #2

In a Word: Clumsy.



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