REVIEW: Dept. H #1

Dept. H from Matt and Sharlene Kindt is unsurprisingly amazing. While the story is just a noir/mystery/thriller, the book itself is so much more. Matt“s art is simply unreal, both with his words and pencils. And Sharlene“s color puts the icing on this very mysterious cake.

As stated before, the story has some similar elements to the Bioshock series, or at least the first two. Underwater research fueled by some visionary billionaire, mysterious deaths, and crazed inhabitants. But there are enough subtle difference that, I am sure, will begin to deviate Dept. H from those stories. And just like most noir stories, this is not so much about the crime, but the characters it affected. And in that aspect, Matt Kindt excels.

I fell in love with this story from the introductory page. In the first the panel betwixt Mia and Q, we get an immediate sense of who these characters are. And the way Matt continues to introduce us to the rest of the cast, later in the issue, is peerless. He gives us little tastes, just so we want more from each and every one of them by the end of the book.

Sherlene“s use of the complementary blue and orange for the overall issue is inspiring. As well as her less saturated tones for the past sequential’s. I also enjoyed how she uses reds and greens, when inside the aquatic research facility, to pull the different cast members into the foreground. I am a sucker for both watercolor and two-tone shading.

The title is very creative. To the naked eye, it seems a bit on the nose, but if you think about it further, especially as you continue through the story, you can see how much it resonates to the theme of the book. Matt“s talent is just unbelievable here. All of the mannerisms he puts into each character tells a larger story than the words could ever. And just like in MIND MGMT, Matt“s pencils and inks in this book are, and will be, incredible. I give Dept. H 5 out of 5 stars.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Dept. H #1Â ”“Â FEB160017
Matt Kindt (W), Matt Kindt (A), Sharlene Kindt (C)

FOCÂ March 28Â /On sale April 20

Author Profile

Dylan Hicks

I just graduated from MSUD with my BAS in Mathematics. I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment with my girlfriend, and our two cats. I work full time for NTIA-ITS as a Computer Scientist. All I really do is engineer mathematical models and write code all day. I took up this second job at Comic Crusaders as a way to become more involved with the comic book community. Since I was a child I have loved comics. I grew up reading Spider-Man, Shi, New Mutants, Spider Woman, and Gen13. As I got older, however, my tastes started to shift from almost exclusively Marvel to various independent labels. Now I read a huge variety of comics: Valiant, Black Mask, Aspen, Avatar, Image, Dynamite, Boom, Aftershock, etc.. If anyone wants to know, my favorite publisher, hands down, is Valiant.
I am also working on writing a few comic books myself. I have about 4 ideas in the fire, but only 1 of them is really getting anywhere; I have 6 of the 10 books finished. In addition to writing, I am also a practicing colorist. If you want to checkout any of my writing samples, or coloring samples, please check out my DeviantArt and let me know what you think.
dirtgrubdylan.deviantart.com.
Some more about me? I love black metal and video games. I usually spend most of my time hanging out with my girlfriend. We have been together for 6 years, so at this point she is basically my best friend. But when I am not with her, I get together with my friends to drink some beer and play some Magic, the Gathering. And, as pretentious as this is, I am also working on starting my own engineering firm. So that involves me reading a lot of textbooks on Mathematics and Computer Science.
So yeah, if you have made it this far thank you very much! I am crazy excited to start my career in writing. Let's see what I can do with this.