Comic Review: Broken Souls Ballad #1 (Scout Comics)

Broken Souls Ballad, a new title from Scout Comics, is all about duality.

It’s 1986, Boston. Young Markus Bowers is a battered boy. He pounds on the keyboard, locked in his room. His adoptive father is a bully figure, but Markus has a secret weapon. A spirit lives within him, vengeful, powerful, aggressively protective.

Writer Massimo Rosi teams with illustrator Ludovica Ceregatti, who maybe presumably colours and letters the issue too. It’s a tale of horror and violence, pitting mutants against their tormentors. It’s a wildly vivid portrayal, thick with promise, spattered with scares. It’s the visuals that sink into our heads; the ambiguous scenes of small figures with bags on their heads, standing sadly while decisions are made about them. Powerless to powerful, and everywhere inbetween.

Strongly conceived and masterfully executed, quite an influential first issue. Check it out!

Scout Comics, Black Caravan imprint, Broken Souls Ballad #1, #3.99 for 28 pages of content. Assume mature rating