Comic Review: Bliss #1 (Image Comics)

Bliss #1, isn’t the happy place you’ve always dreamt of. “Blissful, peaceful, easy-going” are not words to describe this new Image title.

Writer Sean Lewis sows the seeds of discontent early in this first issue; a young man in a suit testifies in front of a crowded multilevel courtroom, the magistrate elevated far above him. It’s the future, it’s accusatory, it’s bleak. Welcome to Bliss!

Artist Caitlin Yarsky paints a bleakly imaged series of scenes, bathed in uniformly creepy earth tones. The artwork panels shift and morph, the story compresses around the characters. Two young lovers, nothing better to do, the shotgun-totin’ dad, vastly unhappy with their union. The new dad, trying to help his sick son, but getting trapped into an ‘unhappy’ business arrangement. Lewis’ dialogue is flavoured with subtext, his characters speak from their hearts. It’s direct, and no waiting around for answers. There is no time to waste in getting the characters into deeper water. Yarsky’s people are right-up-front, but nuanced in interesting ways. Their expressions and body language speak of their origins, their moods. The body language and bleak colouring give us a taste of what’s to come, blissful or not!

Image, Bliss #1, $3.99 for 28 pages of content. Teen Plus.