Advance Review: Deprog #1 (of 4)

We all want to belong somewhere. Whether its trying to fit in with family expectations, with friends and their hobbies or with other social groups, football teams, Marvel or DC; whatever our audience, we want to fit in, we want to belong. Now consider the fact that there are charismatic people out there who see that desire to join something, to belong somewhere and take advantage, to lead you down a dark path. Welcome to indoctrination and cult-hood!

When her brother, a well read individual of all the false prophets finally falls into a resurgent cult, Vera has no choice but to find the one person who can save him, Tate Debs. But Tate has issues, born from the past, so when it comes to taking on the cult that took so much from her; could the warm, sexy, curvy charms of Vera be enough to tempt her to take the case?

I am no stranger to books that feature a lot of sex. I have read the pleasant stuff, the kinky stuff, and all the dark stuff that exists in-between. Tina Horn is writer who is also no stranger to the, sometimes, seedier side of human sexuality having penned SfSx (Safe Sex) from Image Comics. This time around Horn builds a noir style detective story, including a femme fatale, whilst also covering nearly all the sexploits and shenanigans a leather lesbian and Mx could get up to, with a few extra fetishes thrown in for good measure. In doing so, Horn makes the book instantly accessible to a wide readership who are well represented, to perhaps the detriment of straight men. Inclusion means everyone! Maybe I am being harsh, after all everyone loves a curvy girl, right? The dialogue is fascinating, each line is dripping context and possible half truths mixed in between the flirty banter and set up script which perhaps is more setup than you may realise.

The art is provided by the super talented Lisa Sterle whose work may seem cartoony with Sterle’s heavy lines adding to the cartoon element in places but is more of a caricature extension of the characters involved. Vera is curvy, sexy befitting her status of femme fatale, that almost irresistible wanton woman of desire; Tate is the traditional leather lesbian, up to a point, Whilst the sexiness is evident, Sterle also puts a ton of work into the backgrounds and scenarios; each element demonstrates the level of details that are missing in so many books nowadays. The art drips emotion, be it the opening act or the climactic part-closure, each character wears their hearts on their faces and their well observed body language. Gab Contreras supplies the colors for the book with mixed styling with bold colors giving way to tones that denotes the seedy yet vibrant and decadent club scenes. The font, from Apparatus Revolution, is unusual in a good way, serving to keep the reader off-guard slightly, which matches the intent of some of the topics covered from Horn and Sterle. Finally, the cover from Dani reminds me of Howard Chaykin or even Frank Miller with its use of shadows and extension of form, colors and shapes.

I love noir detective books, I love the setups in this book and look forward to the many twists and turns that the reader and Tate will undoubtedly take as we both follow Vera into this very kink friendly series.

Writing – 5 Stars

Art- 5 Stars

Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Tina Horn
Art by; Lisa Sterle
Colors by; Gab Contreras
Letters by; Apparatus Revolution
Published by; Dead Sky Publishing

Deprog #1 is scheduled to drop 20th March; Diamond Code JAN241553

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network