We all want to know where we come from. The heart of all creation stories is to answer that question. Coming across my desk, I found a great comic for you guys who love to ask that question.
The Book
Bad Natures #1
Written and Illustrated by Joshua S. Jearmon
Colors by Ellis Carlos
Flats by Kristoffer Pagaduan
Letters by Rick Joseph
Cover Art, Character Design by Gaston S. Garcia
Bad Natures begins at the end of a conflict. The Gods Jasper and Ava are passing judgment on the dragon Ethel, who is captured in the castle. Judgment is cast, and Ethel’s children are condemned to be without arms or legs.
After the judgment is made, Ethel heads to hell and confronts Casimir, an impish-looking head of hell, who makes Ethel give up the child as compensation for defeat, and the lost souls that were destroyed in the battle. The story goes years into the future, where Jasper confronts a snake in the garden who manages to cripple Jasper and render the god immobile.
Casimir uses the opportunity of a paralyzed Jasper to create division between Jasper and Ava, as he forges a note making them break up. As a result, chaos begins to ensue, and divisions are made.
I’ll get the two things I didn’t like about the issue out of the way. I think the start is slow. I think the story truly starts with Ethel in hell with Casimir, and that’s where the story truly starts to get interesting to me. The other thing I didn’t like is that I do not know Ethel’s son’s name, and I’d like to. Details like that humanize characters and I don’t have a name for him. That said, the confrontation between him and Jasper is brilliantly done. The action is nice, and Ethel’s son shows his cunning.
It will be interesting to see exactly what happens next. Casimir very much is the protagonist in this story and so far everything falls into his design. Jearmon has created an intriguing devil and so far, the most human member of the cast.
So far this is an interesting fable. There’s a Paradise Lost vibe to the whole story which is convoluted by the relationships between the Gods. Jasper and Ava have differing approaches. Ava has a more wrathful, decisive approach, while Jasper just wants everyone to get along. If he had had his way, maybe Ethel’s punishment would be different This story is about the relationships that the gods in the story have with each other. It reminds me a lot of the lyrics of “What if God was one of us.” The same questions are being asked, and it’s overall an intriguing tale.
Jearmon does a lot of the work himself, writing and drawing it, but credit should also be given to the rest of the team. Ellis Carlos has a colorful palette to play with, doing hell, and heaven with different styles. You can tell bits about the world. Kristoffer Pagaduan and Rick Joseph do a good job with the flatting and letters. Credit as well to Gaston S. Garcia for designing distinct and colorful characters for the series.
Issue one is a solid start. Hopefully, the rest of the series is as intriguing.
The Business
It’s been a crazy year. I’ve been backpacking across North America for three of the last five months. I’m about to resume again in the new year. I’ll be continuing to write my journey on my substack. For the rest of the year, I’ll be writing about Baseball Ninjas on the stack before talking about my trip to Maine, and where things took off from Maine. That’s next year. I’ll be trying to review more as I finish the US out.
Beyond that, I’ve been published in a lot of places and look forward to that continuing in some form or fashion next year. Thank you Taypedia, Great Lakes Travel, Christ and Pop Culture, and all the other places I’ve done articles for in the last few months. I’ll have more in the new year. I want to thank First Comics for once again releasing my reviews.
Next year will be 100 columns. Looking forward to the challenge.
Outside of that guys, thanks for reading. I hope you all have a happy holiday, whatever you celebrate.
Stay inspired out there.
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