Review: Chopper #1

A while back I expressed my desire to read a book from Asylum Press called Chopper and by the grace of the Gods I was given a copy to read by a good friend of mine. So I bet you wonder what I thought about it… The sound of Christina’s alarm fills the room as it awakes her from her slumber. As she prepares for school she peers from her bedroom window and recites her disdain for the cookie cutter neighborhood and life that surrounds her. On her way out the door little miss cheerleader and her father have words about the company that she keeps and how she needs better friends. He’s a cop and he knows what it’s like to have shitty friends. Once at school, Christina gets to work and makes her rounds with the local “homeboys” and moves some of her product. Now in class she helps her jock ex-boyfriend get away with cheating on an exam. After class the two of them meet and chat, Taylor begs for her forgiveness for his cheating ways but she tells him to piss off. Now at lunch, Christina has to choose between her corny ass white cheerleader friends or her bad girl friends. At the bad girl table the three girls plan to meet at a concert and then head off to the Daytona Bike Week motorcycle rally. They all agree to meet up after the football game.

Chopper (2)Later, in the middle of the football game, Christina sneaks off to meet up with a customer. He wants some “E” but she has something better, a drug called Stairway to Heaven. After the deal they both go their separate ways, Christina meets up with her bad girl friends and heads off to the bike rally and the customer grabs his girlfriend and they get high. Meanwhile Christina’s dad enters a crime scene where a man is found dead in his room. But with no signs of forced entry and his entire drug stash untouched, who killed him and wrote sinner on the wall with his blood? Sitting in the middle of a field the Stair Way to Heaven customer and his lady begin to feel the hallucination effects of the drug, which are a headless motorcycle rider with a hand scythe who’s ready to do some killing. At the cycle rally the girls walk around until Christina stops a table selling jewelry. On that table she a piece resembling the tattoo of Ouroboros that she has, then all of a sudden she is frozen in fear by an image of a demon.

First off the cover from Cris Ortega is about as cool as it gets. The art on the inside from Juan Ferreyra (Rex Mundi, Small Gods) isn’t too bad in its own. There are a few panels that come of a tad stiff but it’s far from a deal breaker. It is no secret that writer Martin Shapiro is doing a modern-day retelling of the headless horseman but there are just a few things that I didn’t get. This could just be the first issue bumps but I just have to know, number one whose Christina’s connection? What I mean is, where does she get her drugs from? Plus her dads a cop and she’s pushin’ right under his nose? Snap, worst cop ever. Number two, what the hell is Stairway to Heaven (other than a stupid name), did she cut it, grow it, mix it? Doesn’t she know you don’t get high on your own supply? Not only that, but just because you hide it in cookie boxes doesn’t mean they won’t pop you for possession, intent to sell, selling in a school zone, I mean she’s going away for a while if someone narcs her ass out.

Over analyzing aside, Chopper #1 is pretty a fun ride. It has all the makings of a modern-day Hollywood horror movie (take that as a complement if you need to), which is little surprise that movie rights have already been sold to the production company, Dilemma, in association with Mane Entertainment. So if you have a chance to pick up Chopper #1 go for it and give it a "ride" and you can also check out the web series that has little to nothing to do with the comic on YouTube. FUN!

Score : 3/5