Review: Amber Blake #1

They say “never look a gift horse in the mouth”, which as it relates to insulting the perceived value of the gift, is not a nice thing to do.Â However, if we dare throw out all social niceties and take a closer look at the gift, we may find something lurking in its dark underbelly.

Amber Blake, left as a child into the care of Merton Castle Orphanage soon finds this out the hard way, subject to the usual bullying that accompanies such a tale.Â Of course, a friendship is made and soon Amber and her BFF Amanda are recruited/rescued into the Cleverland London Campus.Â Still, even as the pair progress, there is yet another under tow to try and cross, this being that of the unwanted attention of the predators within the school administration.Â Now on the eve of the pair telling the world of the dark secrets, Amber finds herself on the run, her best friend killed for saying too much and looking for help in the unlikeliest of places.

Jade LagardÃ©re has crafted a tale that is almost as old as time, at least in comic books, where it seems that any young girl in any school is pretty much going to be abused at one point.Â Now before people say “wait a minute, what about Xavier’s” lest I remind you that both a young Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde were put in life ofrdeath situations against killers.Â If that isn’t child endangerment I don’t know what is!Â Joking aside, sexual abuse is a serious matter, which begs that question, why I am I not surprised when it happens in stories?Â Could it be that thanks to 20 odd seasons of Law & Order have desensitised me?Â In real life, theses crimes are abhorrent; in media be it television, comics or movies, it’s entertainment.Â LagardÃ©re works hard to give us a sympathetic heroine in Amber, whose type of story we have seen before.Â I am a little confused as toÂ where she gets her moral compass from seeing as we aren’t really introduced to any real positive influences in her life; even her BFF actually wanted to be Amber’s friend to help her own grades.Â The dialogue works well for the this type of story, there is a a bit of a disconnect at time between the script and the art; I am not such which is to blame here as the script does read disjointed in places and the art doesn’t always reflect the emotional aspects that the dialogue is hinting at.

Speaking of the art, it is provided by comic legend Butch Guice.Â I first saw Guice’s art in X-Factor, way back when it was the original gang back in action.Â From there, he has worked for every major comic publisher, redefining his art as he goes.Â Moving away from superheroes, he has evolved a style that carries a resemblance to the realism of poses seen in Paul Gulacy and it would fair to say has maybe influenced artists like Michael Gaydos on the Black Hood series from a couple of years back.Â Here, the pencils have a vaguely European feel to them; without any “heroes” there is a lack of dynamism on show asÂ we follow the Amber’s descent into problem after problem.Â The feel and vibe of the book is heavily influenced by the flat colors used throughout the book, giving it a bleak world view that fits with Amber’s own perceptions of her life.Â The panel structure is used effectively, with smaller panels carrying the flow of conversations well, with letterers Christa Miesner and Robbie Robbins doing well to ensure the book is readable without detracting from the art.

I like it when IDW take a break form their more obviously licensed products and show how they can deliver a range of different types of comics.Â Granted, this particular book, at least at the moment, doesn’t add anything new to very populated story field.Â It will be interesting to see how this series distinguishes itself from others in the trope in later issues.

Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by; Jade LagardÃ©re
Art by; Butch Guice
Letters by Christa Miesner & Robbie Robbins
Published by; IDWÂ Publishing

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