By Tyler James, John Lees, Alex Cormack, Jules Rivera
“The first thing I need to make clear to you is that you are not in control.”
Well, that makes things a bit easier. Being in control can be quite overwhelming.
John Lees scripts the story by Tyler James and himself as we’re given a police procedural in the city of Swantown. It’s like Gotham, except it actually experiences daylight (and everything doesn’t look like it’s from the 40’s).
The story starts off pretty slow, giving us an introduction to the main character – the disgraced Detective Clark… recently demoted to Officer Clark. We’re given a look into her past from the get-go, so we know what lead her to fall from grace. Now she’s back on the force and a new case seems to be creeping up in the city… and there’s something familiar about it to Clark.
The artwork, penciled and inked by Alex Cormack and colored by Jules Rivera presents some impressive moments – especially during the horrifying scenes (this isn’t a comic for the kids!). One scene features the stories antagonist having lunch at a diner. In this scene we’re given the point of view of the sadistic patron as the waitress acts rather pleasant towards him… at first. Something she doesn’t mention though is why he’s wearing a mask, dressed in all white, and looks like a Deadpool/Joker crossover, you’d think that would come up in the small talk, but maybe this waitress has just seen it all by now. In this scene, as we get back on track, the waitress goes to pour him another cup of coffee, and as she approaches he grabs her wrist, fork ready to attack with in his other hand. It’s in this scene where we see how well Cormack is able to depict the look of horror on the woman’s face. Her eyes bulge out from her head as the black coffee goes flying into the air (Noooooo!). Rivera casts the image in a daunting shadow as it appears the man in the mask is lunging forward at her.
Issue #1 of Oxymoron serves to gives us a lot of the background needed to progress – this being the first of a four part story line. After a slow introduction, where we learn Clark isn’t taking her demotion that well but still can’t leave the city, we’re given some pretty crazy images, but by the end we’re left with a lot of questions; Who is this guy in the mask? What’s really keeping Clark in Swantown? Who says no to a coffee refill?
Dan, thanks for reviewing our booK! Regarding the diner scene… how do you know he was wearing the mask?