Advance Review: Brilliant Trash #1

Ironically, for a review site, the crux of this new series from AfterShock Comics lies in not believing the press.Â Depending on who you believe, fake media is a real thing; a way to control people’s perceptions of real world issues.Â To me, I guess it just depends on what you feel is important.

In Brilliant Trash, a super-powered teenage girl takes matters into her own hands and destroys the Old City of Jerusalem.Â Following the now infamous “Lady Last Word Incident”, a journalist with a penchant for theÂ “click bait” headlinesÂ holds the key that could offer peopleÂ god like powers, with the cost being days offÂ their lives.Â Â But in today’s world of scepticism andÂ doubting Thomas’s, who is going to believe her?

AfterShock are renowned for publishing books that push boundaries, with societal elements being at the forefront.Â Who better to then to welcome to their fold is writer Tim Seeley who is no stranger to changing perceptions with DC’s Grayson book.Â Seeley is a master of hiding the complexities ofÂ characters in theÂ plain sight of a simple enough plot.Â Here, he is taking a minor risk, with the destruction mentioned previously, which may be the reason such a site was chosen.Â Â Seeley then starts to work his magicÂ by setting debatableÂ viewpoints; is the media deemed fake because no one cares or is fake because it is well, fake?Â With this first issue we get a quick introduction to the status quo before thinks start to happen.Â Seeley will need to be careful as unlike working in the DC universe where everyone knows the characters, here the relatively unknown characters will need time to grow on a readership before the rug is essentially pulled from under their feet.

Art is supplied by Priscilla Petraites who is an artist I haven’t seen a lot of.Â For a story that has to deal with perceptions andÂ how different people see what they think of as their world, Petraites uses a number of styles to get her message across.Â The opening pages uses a social media type of effect, that seems to have become a little too popular in comic books, before the video messageÂ with clean lines emphasisesÂ the almost godliness of Lady Last Word.Â From there, the art becomes a little more idiosyncratic, with a blocky style that works well within the conversational elements of the story, put perspective wise, falters slightly in the action scenes.Â Still, this isn’t the sort of book you will pick up for the fight scenes.Â There is a darkness in the real world that Petraites seeks to mine.Â There are no heroes or villains there are only those that disagree.

The idea of living for now rather than later could be seen as a statement about a human race who has forgone the sanctity of the planet in order to utilise its resources now, or any number of choices we make on a daily basis where we decide that today is more important than tomorrow.Â With differing viewpoints on show it is hard to say who is wrong or who is right.Â But reading a book like this should give a reader an opportunity to look at life from both sides and find out for themselves.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; Tim Seeley
Art by; Priscilla Petraites
Cover Art by; Mike Norton
Published by; AfterShock Comics

In Shops: Nov 15, 2017

Diamond Order Code:Â SEP171085

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