It’s been a while since I snuck in a Comixology Submit release, but I figured why not. I was drawn to this book due to the simple yet effective cover layout and the title. The Pain just sounds interesting doesn’t it? Unfortunately the story I found inside offered little in way of interest. Don’t get me wrong I get the contents of the story; a woman is being abused by her boyfriend, a man is looking for love but too afraid to find it. When the women is abused by her boyfriend on this particular evening, the man looking for love that has never meet her… feels her pain. I mean physically feels her pain and he has no idea what is going on. The woman leaves her shitty abusive boyfriend and happens upon the man that’s been physically feeling her pain and they recognize the same injuries on each other and bam… they lock eyes.

I might assume that this is a statement about abusive relationships and that by the love sick man feeling her pain that it goes the against the abusers statements of “you’ll never find anyone better” or “you won’t find anyone that understands you.” But that’s a lot of assuming on my part. I could just be projecting that onto the story because it doesn’t imply any of that.

The thing is that you never really connect to the woman being abused. Without being able to connect it’s hard to understand any of her struggles other than shitty physically abusive boyfriend that she’s going back to. What’s worse is that it down plays real abuse by just having her find her soul mate in a way. I’m sure that wasn’t the intention, but that is how it comes across considering how easily she breaks the cycle of abuse and moves on.

While the art on the cover drew me in, it put me off when I made it inside the book. It’s an extension of the cover so the same solid coloring and simplicity. It’s a good cover, but reading nineteen pages filled with simple details and solid colors is numbing. While the art isn’t bad, it doesn’t add the emotion needed for this story. It sadly comes off goofy at times which based on the subject matter isn’t a good thing.

I went in blind on this issue and while it’s not terrible, it is very basic. The heavy lifting of the meaning and connections of the narrative are left for the reader to create while the story marathons through. There’s something called the rule of three that applies to storytelling, you get two opportunities to show her getting hurt and him feeling the pain. By the third time it should be resolved in the story and the connection revealed to the reader. This story just continues to show it over and over and that’s what prevented me from taking it seriously.

Score: 2/5

Writer/Artist: Troy Becker Publisher: Light Studio Price: $0.99 Available on Submit