Another superhero universe has been springing up over at Lion Forge Comics. Does their second addition to the line stand a chance in today’s marketplace? Read on to find out, and beware of potential spoilers.
Written by Joe CaseyCover by Damion Scott
Penciled by Damion Scott
Inked by Robert Campanella
Colored by Sigmund Torre
Lettered by AW’s DC HopkinsDaniel DosSantos is a young man living at the speed of life. After gaining powers from exposure to an extraterrestrial object, DosSantos became the rapid action superhero called ACCELL. The first of a new public kind of self-appointed crime fighter. Unfortunately, there are consequences to moving faster than sound. ACCELL about to learn that danger exists on the flipside of having super powers, and will have to grow up quickly to survive.
Two weeks ago, I mused about how, if an independent superhero comic wants to do well in today’s market, it needs to have a “unique spin on the genre” that will differentiate it from all the other titles out there. After having read “Catalyst Prime: Accell,” I can safely say that this book has no real hook. So was the work on display here enough to miraculously push it above the pack?
For my money, Damion Scott is the real star of “Catalyst Prime: Accell.” Not a page goes by without him employing some device to make the page more exciting. Even further, he always maintains full clarity while pulling that off. There’s never a point where I had any confusion about whatever crazy stunts the main character performed, even as Casey pushed him to even wilder displays of his powers. For example, ghosted images rarely work for me, yet Scott was able to use his strengths of perspective to make a memorable scene out of what might first appear to be a flat image of the character dressing. He also likes to use adjacent panels that are visually similar, depicting the same space from very similar angles, to show movement. The similarities of the angles anchor the reader in the scene, while the parts of the images that have changed convey that movement. These devices aren’t new — he just pulls them off so spectacularly that they might as well be his own.
Scott’s visual design style works perfectly with “Catalyst Prime: Accell.” His graffiti influence imbues the action scenes with a non-stop kinetic energy, allowing the proportions of characters and environments to shift dramatically as necessary to create the desired feeling. That same graffiti influence gives the characters exaggerated faces and bodies which can express a wide range of emotions, lending weight to the dramatic scenes. Casey makes sure to write even the dramatic scenes with a certain sense of playfulness, so things never get so dire that Scott’s art stops being effective.
Campanella’s inks reinforce Scott’s visual style. Each line has both a weight to it and a rounded edge, so even the objects that would normally have sharp edges end up retaining that characteristic roundness. With such young characters and playful action scenes, those inks make sure Scott’s finished art matches the story. As for the coloring, Torre uses a saturated palette also reminiscent of graffiti, with most characters and objects given a clearly defined main color, shadow, and highlight. He sometimes throws in a slight gradient but mostly sticks to flat blocks of color, keeping him in line with Scott’s artistic influence.
Hopkins’s lettering stood out in analysis after reading. He used a significant amount of small techniques that increased my enjoyment of the story without calling attention to themselves during the initial reading experience. There are wobbly balloons with smaller text when a character is weak, balloons with thick red outlines when a powerful masked character yells, and Hopkins occasionally sticks the narration in a black spot of a panel. None of this detracted from my first read-through, all of it instead bringing me further into the world. His balloon and caption box placements are also the sort that guide the reader through the images, instead of appearing where the most negative space in the image is.
Okay, so “Catalyst Prime: Accell” is an artistic wonder. So what about that story?
Continued belowCasey turns in a solid, not great, young superhero story. It’s not exactly by the numbers, as there are enough small innovative moments to keep things interesting. It is, however, devoid of that central hook I mentioned at the beginning of the review. While it’s exhilarating to watch Daniel run up a skyscraper and self-destructively jump directly through the hull of an airplane, at the end of the day he’s still just some young speedster hero who got powers from a mysterious rock and now wants to save people. Casey does try to introduce some long-term plots here including Daniel’s relationship, his girlfriend’s father wanting him dead, and Daniel’s questioning his status as a hero. It’s just that there’s nothing we haven’t seen before.
Casey’s dialogue is the sort that kept me reading through “Catalyst Prime: Accell” with ease. Between the natural character interactions and the strong voice in Daniel’s narration, I never felt a point where the issue dragged. He can go too thick on the slang at points, but it’s at least, for the most part, natural, so you get used to it further into the issue.
All in all, “Catalyst Prime: Accell” boasts incredible visuals with a fairly unremarkable story. The penciller, inker, colorist, and letterer completely understand each other and the demands of their collaboration to create something truly unique and complete, from both a storytelling standpoint and a purely aesthetic standpoint. This all even works perfectly with the tone of the story which, while not bad by any stretch, didn’t blow me away. Going forward, though, this book is going to need more of a hook if it wants to build a readership.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – Check it out for the incredible visual experience, and hope the story finds a hook while it still can.
