Radiation Day is one of those stories in which the main characters don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into. They’re being played by all sides and they’re stuck in the middle trying to figure out how to get ahead of everyone else. So far, it does the formula well. We meet two guys that work with each other in a shithole future that has toxic air and forces everyone to pay for clean air and wear masks outside. In a way the structure feels like a space story about smugglers, but set on earth. They’re about to take off for a job when some other smugglers fire warning shots at them and they find out the guy that hired them may have let slip what they were after. Our two main characters take off and head towards the booty anyway. Along the way we see some people living out in the radiation. The story also informs us that they’re cannibals and that they’re basically waiting for people to head towards the treasure hunt.
The story is a bit generic. There seems to be some twists coming. The loot doesn’t seem to be everything that it is, but our main two character don’t know that. There’s too many players in the game right now to know for sure how everything will go down, but for now the first issue plays it safe.
The characters try to have friendly banter between them, the kind of personal conversations that include insults and information you can only get from hanging out with someone way too much. It unfortunately feels hollow. They come off like friends, but their jokes and inside info into one another is just dressing. It doesn’t add to their characters or reveal anything about them. Really we’re left knowing nothing about them other than one kind of hates the corporation that handles the clean air… nothing new there either.
The art is the shining aspect of the story. It’s detailed and illustrated nicely. There’s personality to the art in both the style and presentation. The character designs are a bit boring and no one really has an iconic look other than the cannibal leader. The coloring is muted and earthy. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t make the art pop. It’s serviceable and has skill, but it really could have made the art for the story be standout great.
I don’t know if I’m curious enough to check out the next issue. There wasn’t enough time spent with the characters to make me care whether they live or die and that’s the big motivator for the next issue. It’s not a bad comic book, it’s just not captivating. It plays it safe and that ultimately makes me lose interest in it.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Brett Jones Artist: Chris Yarbrough Colorist: Bryan Timmins Publisher: Project-Nerd Publishing Price: $4.99 Format: Print Website