Comic Review: Stained #1
Written By: David Baron, Illustrated By: Yusuf Idris, Letters By: Simon Bowland, Colors By: David Baron, Cover By: Steve Morris w/ Variant By: Jock
Bounty hunters, bullets, babes, cops, robbers, and action are all on the table for 451 Media’s new 5 issue series Stained, from writer David Baron & illustrator Yusuf Idris.
Emma is a cybernetic enhanced bounty hunter with a beautiful jaw line, a penchant for drinking, and a tough as nails attitude that chafes those in the Center City police department; especially since she’s better at her job of bringing in the bad guys than they are. When her buddy from within the department George gives her a lead on a big new payday, Emma is keen to take on the job regardless of the dangers, especially since the dang taxes on those bounties are so high.
Stained is a fun action comic with a captivating lead right off the bat. I am a huge fan of limited-run series, as it allows the creative team to know they don’t have to waste time on filler just to stretch out a story unnecessarily. From Emma’s introduction with a loudmouth show off in a bar, to the final pages which gives us a glimpse of her home life and body needs, the art is quite smooth and fluid in its transitions. It quite resembles Neal Adams work at times, especially in perspectives and faces. The action panels are engaging, with kinetic action and fight scenes throughout, writer Baron also colors the issue, as he has done for Wildstorm and DC for years. Simon Bowland does a solid lettering job, as there’s quite a bit of needed dialogue to wrap around the artwork. He accomplishes this quite well, though (as always) I’d have liked to see differing lettering fonts or designs for different characters or internal monologues.
Stained is a solid start to a promising 5 issue series from Michael Bay’s 451 media group. The printing and page quality are solidly above the norm, and is a definite pick up for those wanting a new type of comic lead.
