Necromantical stars the character Clive Spark; he’s a human-robot hybrid police officer working in the not too distant future. We meet him as he’s kicking in a door looking to save a kidnapped little girl. Booby-traps release, but nothing stops Clive from getting to the girl. As he reaches for her though, a bomb goes off blowing her up and him out the window. The next time we see Clive he’s waking up from getting replacement parts installed. The case has him confused and wondering who or what that little girl was. This first issue of Necromantical is pretty short, but it has a rapid fire pace that keeps it interesting from beginning to end. The plot is something that’s usually associated with a P.I. story, but with this being the future Clive is pretty much on his own. What I like about Clive as a character is that he’s has aspects of other characters, but remains original in his actions. He’s robotic and has the law enforcement angle like RoboCop; he works alone and takes zero shit from anyone and isn’t afraid to pull the trigger like Judge Dredd, but then he gets results in ways that law enforcement legally can’t like Batman. In the end it’s like he was created by the same processes that made Kelly LeBrock’s character in Weird Science (no bras required).
The pacing of the story is clunky at times. The opening is balls to the wall and then the rest of the issue is conversations and exposition for the most part. It could be better, but really this is a police mystery caper and so the formula that works for the story is by the numbers. Necromantical is following the numbers, but adding its own twist with the character and setting. Overall writer Massimo Rosi writes an entertaining first issue.
The real reason I checked this series out was because of Stafano Cardoselli. If you follow the site you’ve seen how many reviews I’ve done for his work and so with that I’ll say I had no major complaints with the art. The only thing I noticed is that Cardoselli seemed retrained. I have a feeling the page count had something to do with it, but Cardoselli is at his best when he can go wild with the page. Maybe they’ll let him unleash on the story with future issues, but here he just gives a solid performance with his trademark style and visual storytelling abilities. Graig Gilliland should also be commended for his coloring of Cardoselli’s work. He does a great job of keeping the details, but making it vibrant and interesting to look at.
This is an entertaining story for sure. It’s too early to tell if it’s going to bring something new to the genre, but it has the potential. Even if it continues to play out as is, it’ll still be a romp of a wild cop story set in the not too distant future. If Clive Spark sounds like your kind of cop then check it out.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Massimo Rosi Artist: Stefano Cardoselli Colorist: Craig Gilliland Publisher: Ardden Entertainment/Atlas Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/7/14