Synopsis: This is the first installment of this 7 issue series focusing on the murders and disappearances of students in Genesee University. 
Murders carried out by a mysterious slasher that is obsessed with causing harm to all who cross his path. Unfortunately for Scott and Hailey, they’re about to find that seeking privacy off-campus in a slasher story is the worst thing to do. Who is this mysterious killer? What is his connection to this campus and the students that inhabit it? Who will survive the onslaught? And will anyone get any privacy for intimacy without it involving death?
Samuel Carter is the writer and letterer of this mini-series and for a first issue, it is exactly what it draws inspiration from. Carter seems to pull inspiration from various tongue and cheek slasher films where a looming killer is murdering teenagers in a town. Like any slasher film, there are some tropes that occur that readers will no doubt find in this book. Is that a bad thing? No. Given that comics is a medium containing various genres just like film, novels, and mediums of the like, there is always room for tongue and cheek horror comics. The characters within the comic are pretty much no different than what readers find in slasher films, where a dude is trying to score with a woman and see if he can get lucky for the night, only for things to go quite the opposite of what is expected.
While it’s evident in stories like these that some characters won’t survive, Carter manages to surprise viewers with some brutality that catches you off guard and slightly surprised at the results despite expecting the outcome. Gore aside, what makes this first issue enjoyable aside from the story is the dialogue. It’s quite enjoyable for what it is since it channels so much of what you’d find in late 90s, early 2000s slasher flicks, where teenagers are going to be teenagers saying things that only teenagers would say in those kinds of movies. And for a story such as this, it actually works.
Marlon Souza does the art for this book and is competent in his visual storytelling abilities. He does a great job with his gesture work, despite minor moments where it might be visually stiff in some panels, he makes up for it with the action and gore that occurs throughout most of the book. When Souza displays some slasher horror gore, he is more than capable of delivering in that department. What really makes the book sing is the colorwork by Danilo Leao, who adds another layer to Souza’s linework that gives the book a slasher film aesthetic that checks all the boxes for a slasher book such as this. If you enjoy movies like Scream, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and the like, then you will dig this indie title that is launching a Kickstarter on March 22nd. I think it’s worth checking out to see where things go next and it might scratch that horror /humor itch for anyone looking for horror titles of that nature.
If you’re interested in funding the Kickstarter, you can find it here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samcarterwriter/final-boy-issue-1
Newsdesk