Kickstarter Alert: Righteous
There is a phrase running around Twitter I saw recently that almost fits this comic’s world view; “if you do something you love and you will never work a day”. There is a second part that attests to not actually making any money whilst you are doing that dream job.
In this book we get to meet Daniel Price, a risk analyst who is on the top of his game, if that game is to make shed loads of money with nary a care for the rest of the world. After ignoring a bum, he is visited be a luminescent being and develops a change of heart. This inner light powers him, even drives him to help others. The catch, with everyone he helps, they catch the “bug” too!
The book is written by creator Xane Daniel (formally Kevin Sheller), who delivers a type of hero that you really want to root for. At our most basest core, I think we do want tot help people. But for so many people, life can get in the way. This book is written from the ideal that nothing can stop Daniel, Jen and Greg from helping others. There are a couple of problems in that type of idea. Firstly, the help given is subjective. Take Daniel’s wife for example. No matter the levels of interactions, it seems that Daniel doesn’t want to help her, mainly because her goal is different to his. So does that mean we should only should people who share our beliefs? During the book, Daniel’s interactions affect a sway of people, so this feels incongruous. The other point, I’d like to make is the suicide attempt. Rather than deliver actual help by calling the appropriate authorities, Daniel takes it upon himself and doesn’t actually help anyone. We all know after all, what the road to hell is paved with.
The art, inks and lettering is provided by Joseba Morales who does a good job of moving us through the story. Taking the art first, the characters do have a level of interaction that for the most part does feel natural, with only a couple of panels seemingly a tad forced. Frameworks can come across as stagnant, with little movement. With the book being quite a “talky” , camera angles become critical, if just to break up the routine of conversation. Facial expressions, again, work for the most part which adds to the idea that you don’t need to draw superheroes to make it in comics. Morales provides his own inks, and with the cost of producing the comic mentioned on the website, I am assuming that this may be a cost choice as much as a creative one. By doing so, we may get to see Morales art as he sees it, but when you work on something for so long, there can be a sort of complacency that repetition can cause. As such, there may be a lack of texture to the pencils. Morales letters on the other hand work fantastically throughout. Gab Contreras provides the colors, which work hard to give texture, at least in the early pages.
This book or project has its heart in the right place and as a proponent of some of Xane Daniel’s work in self talk, I can understand the need for the belief in a hero that is self-sacrificing to the point of homelessness, but surely there has to be level of Maslow’s Hierarchy in place to allow that level of self-awareness? As an example of an ideal world founded in an ideal set of beliefs, this book is entertaining.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 2.5
Colors – 2.5
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Xane Daniel (formally Kevin Sheller)
Art, Inks & Letters by; Joseba Morales
Colors by; Gab Contreras
Links for the book:Â
Kickstarter:Â https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevmo/righteous-comic-series-volume-2-first-printing
Author Profile
- 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
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