Comics Review: “Gamma” (One-shot)

- by Ninja Ross, 9 September 2015

POKEMON. I don't need to explain to you what Pokemon is. If you're more than two days old, you know what Pokemon is and you know exactly how popular it is. These games have been around since 1995, for crying out loud! And their popularity has only increased! Everyone knows what a Pikachu is! Everyone knows that you're supposed to catch them all! Or catch about 12 and decide that's more than enough because all you really wanted was Squirtle anyway...

The cover. Click to enlarge. It's worth it!

So you know it's all about monsters fighting and stuff. They fight, they get better, they fight again. Everyone's happy and even the bad guys are so shit at their jbs that they end up helping more than hindering. But it would probably be a lot more fun it were set in a violent post apocoliptic wasteland, right? That's what we get with Gamma, written by Ulises Farinas and Erick Freitas with art by Farinas.

We meet our hero Dusty Keztchemal as he drowns his sorrows in a bar. The bar tender, Baco, helps Dusty earn money by charging $50 to punch Dusty in the face. That's $50 per punch. That's a pretty good way to make a living if you just have one of those faces!

Dusty has been branded a coward. When the monsters began to increase in size and population, they killed thousands. Dusty was the ultimate champion of the Monster League, along with his trusty monster Sparky, the Thunder Jerboa. 

With his experience, he was a natural choice to lead the best trainers around against the violent monsters threatening to wipe out mankind. Unfortunately, the pressure got the best of him and he abandoned everyone in order to save himself. The world is now a wasteland with the human population not doing so well.

Dusty, getting punched.

As you can guess, this is a redemption story! When a woman stumbles into the bar looking for someone to stand up to her abusive husband, Dusty decided to give it a try and challenges him to a monster battle. This goes TERRIBLY. It's absolutely awful.

But that's not the end of the story. There's still plenty of redemption to be had! Time to walk around in grass until you're the very best!

The story is exactly as silly as it sounds, but this doesn't mean it's just some wacky Pokemon rip off. It's an homage handled properly. It's not just Pokemon that gets some appreciation here, Kaiju movies and Power Rangers among other areas of pop culture get some spotlighjt. While I have no love for Power Rangers, it;s still fun to see all of these things used so well.

There's genuinely great writing in this book and it feels fresh, making sure to separate it from it's original influences while still retaining the important bits. While it's plenty ridiculous, there are some moments in this book that are somewhat dark and depressing, especially during the flashback to Dusty's failed career as a military leader. This adds a real kick to the story, making it easy to really get into the world these guys have created.

BLOCKAGE!

MONSTERS!

Dusty is an ass, but he's a likeable ass. While his womanising and alcoholism probably shouldn't be praised, he still comes off as a little bit charming. It makes you root for him and his 12 step programme!

Besides Baco, we don't really get much of a supporting cast. There's Dusty's very angry wife, but she's a bit more two dimensional. But that's fine, since Dusty is more than enough character for the book. Farinas and Freitas have established a character and a world and they've managed to keep the pacing even, making it a fun, easy read.

Farinas' art suits the silliness perfectly. It's vibrant, full of life and there's plenty of colour in there. It's reminiscent of Pokemon where it needs to be, but he definitely has his own style. Even during the slightly darker moments, the art fits just right, giving it a bit of a jarring contrast at times.

 
Originally released in segments in Dark Horse Presents, Gamma has been released as a One Shot and is now available on Comixology, giving you the chance to read it in all of it's glory. Digitally! So, do that! Read the damn thing!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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