Review: Crowded #1

In the growing world of the gig economy, where people simply download an app on their smart phone and hire willing workers to perform services for them, we have it pretty well right now. You can grab a quick ride to the airport, or have someone bring you an artisan, gluten-free veggie burger from your favorite pop up food truck. You can basically pay someone to do darn near anything for you. What if that extended to putting a hit out on someone you didn“t like? What if you could also hire protection from said hit being placed upon your head? Better yet, what if people were allowed to crowd fund your hit contract and the price on your head continued to grow like a lottery jackpot? This my friends is where we are in Crowded #1 (Image Comics).

Charlie is having a bad day. As she tries to get started, random strangers keep trying to kill her. She finds out she has a hit on her, and the prize money on it is growing like Pinocchio“s nose after he makes promises at a political rally. She does what any sane person would do in this situation, she hires protection via phone app. Vita is her protection. She“s not rated very well, but she says she“s never lost a customer. She has to keep Charlie safe for 30 days, which is how long it takes for the contract to expire. This won“t be easy with such a huge price tag on her customer. In addition to that, there just seems to be something off about Charlie.

As I read this comic book, I felt like I was following parallel stories. We have the story in the forefront, which is pretty much what I described in the second paragraph. It plays like a modern-day action/adventure/mystery and it does so quite well. Just behind this story I feel as if I“m reading a cautionary tale about the world we live in and the changing marketplace we interact in. There is enough to entice me to keep reading and find out if I“m correct in my theory that we will be analyzing these new marketplaces as the story continues to unfold in later issues. Writer Christopher Sebela did a great job setting this up.
Art team Ro Stein (Pencils), Ted Brandt (Inks), Triona Farrell (Colors), and Cardinal Rae (Letters) do a good job of displaying this modern world that is not unlike our own in many ways at all. I enjoy the style on display. It“s not off the mark from the real world, and they do a brilliant job displaying the mannerisms of a character like Charlie. Bringing a self-absorbed character to life can cause people to exaggerate, but in this case I think they hit the character spot on. In many ways, it“s all too real.

Crowded #1 is a good start to what could be an interesting series. In a world that very may well have run out of good business ideas, it“s nice to know writers and artists are willing to put in the time to create a story that gives us an opportunity to pause and think about the gig and crowdfunding economy that is growing around us. The story is solid and I“m along for the ride.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Christopher Sebela (A/CA) Ro Stein, Ted Brandt

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Bryan Spaulding

In his free time, other than reading comic books, Bryan enjoys listening to his ever growing record collection and driving his 27 year old roadster named Mingo.