X’ed #1

By Tony Patrick, Ayaan Hayrula and Doug Garbark

“Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a big enough yacht to pull up right beside it.”

Ain’t that the truth. Someday I’ll have a yacht and or happiness. Yacht would probably be more reliable though…

Tony Patrick creates an imaginative sci-fi tale with X’ed #1. What’s the best way to get rid of bad memories? Send someone in after them of course! Patrick is able to pull you right in the story from the beginning and weave you in and out of the main storyline as we’re shown some back story as well as events happening simultaneously with the main tale. He does a good job at keeping the surreal story in an overall grounded environment however as he creates a tale of drama, but also one full of fantastical elements.

On the artwork side of this issue is Ayhan Hayrula along with colorist Doug Garbark. The artwork is solid all the way through as we get a few scenes soaked in yellow, others in blue, and some in red. The most creative scenes however come when we enter in the “world of the mind”, which is one of the imaginative elements Patrick has included in this story. We see a character enter into this new world in a body that’s been specifically crafted for the expedition (kind of like in the movie Avatar). In these scenes we see a few oddities, some of which are even explained as your everyday clichés (an hour-glass with wings as “time flies” for example, or a fish lying on the ground representing feeling like a fish-out-of-water).

A great page for the artwork comes with our initial entry in the “world of the mind”. The character looks forward into the crazy world that’s been crafted by Hayrula and Garbark. A giant clock looks as if the sun, there’s cacti covered in blades, and a bunch of doors all over the ground. Garbark keeps the scene in a western-like color palette, creating the sense that this is a world from the past.

X’ed #1 is a crazy sci-fi adventure. It’s a cross between classic Michael Crichton and today’s James Cameron. Tony Patrick lays the groundwork for a tale that can take the reader anywhere they can “imagine” as he’s accompanied by talented artists Ayhan Hayrula, and Doug Garbark. X’ed has the action you’re looking for along with the story and artwork to back it up.