Chastity #1

By Marc Andreyko, Dave Acosta and Tiago Ribeiro

It’s hard to get yourself established in the comics industry, unless you have something special that sets you apart from every other book on the rack. For every Walking Dead there are hundreds of Shadow Hawks. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to make it, you’ve just got to have something a little different, and Chastity is definitely different.

There is a certain level of coolness about this issue that kicks off what a pleasant surprise Chastity is. Marc Andreyko writes the story with knockoff nods to pop culture that make the read funny and enjoyable, like poking fun at Twilight. Chastity is written as a very relatable character, which makes her likable. We’ve all felt that we were cooler than the masses of people who love the latest fad, and Andeyko does a decent job of giving the reader some realism in this first issue. The biggest surprise this issue though, is how fast the action piles up in the later pages of the book. Andreyko gives the reader a nice build up before the crap hits the fan, it’s nice to see some groundwork being laid in a book.

The art duties fall on Dave Acosta this issue, and he impresses. One of the first things you’ll notice is the flashback scenes as the story begins. Acosta draws these in a neat way as we get a story told by photographs over Chastity’s narration. When the violence and death happen in this book, Acosta draws it very well. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but there is a great amount of tension in the art as people you like are being murdered. The art is helped out tremendously by the colors of Tiago Ribeiro, who makes all of Acosta’s drawings look better with his palette and talent.

Chastity is a book that will take people by surprise, although it really shouldn’t. Marc Andreyko did a very good job Manhunter, which was underrated as well. Dave Acosta and Tiago Ribeiro make the story better with their contributions in art and color. This could be an explosive new series for Dynamite, and it has great ingredients to succeed.