Written by Rachel Freeman
Savage Things is published by DC Comics under their Vertigo imprint. It is written by Justin Jordan with art by Ibrahim Moustafa.
Justin Jordan is a name that hopefully you recognize as a comic reader. If you don’t, well, maybe you have heard of such titles as: The Legend of Luther Strode, The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, Spread, and Superboy (New 52), to name a few.
Ibrahim Moustafa is mainly known for his variant cover artwork, so I’m really excited to see him featured as the main artist.
DC’s Vertigo imprint is great because it’s a way for the talent at DC to have a bit more creative freedom. It tends to be more graphic and intense than what we see in their superhero titles. So, basically that means Savage Things is off to a pretty brutal start. We first meet a young boy, lighting something on fire and smiling about it, rather sinisterly (immediate sociopath vibes). And when he gets home to see his murdered parents and a random man sitting is his house, he is hardly even phased. No tears, no fear, no anger, no emotion at all. But instead of killing him, the man laughs and takes the unnamed boy to his new “home.”
Cut to twenty-five years later, in our modern world, rogues from the government agency the boy was taken to have begun a path of terror throughout the United States. Committing mass-murders in the most disturbing ways. The organization that kidnapped young sociopaths and trained them to be secret agents, now must call back the boy, codename Abel, to take the rogues out before their secrets are exposed.
What a great plot already, right?! Spies, sociopaths, government conspiracies, and a totally badass-well trained-unstoppable machine of a main character? I’m already in love with this story.
Pros: Original storyline. Maybe you have read a similar story, but I haven’t. This is unique and new to me and I think it’s being executed excellently. We don’t know our main character at all, we know immediately that he’s got something off about him but we don’t actually see him commit murder or anything. And then we’re told point blank that he’s a socio. Sociopath that’s a secret agent for the government. I’m already so invested in learning more about him. The art for this story is perfect. The past is so bleak while the future is more vibrant, the true vibrancy comes out where there is death and chaos. Even when we see Abel again, he is shrouded in a sort of dark colors. He isn’t a hero. He isn’t good. He isn’t a shining light coming to save us. And I think that is spectacular.
Cons: The 4-page phone conversation was a bit long. I think it gave us important information, but I think it did it in a really roundabout way. I found myself just skimming it over waiting for the interesting stuff to happen again. And I basically got all the information but in a better way in the pages immediately after. It just kind of felt like unnecessary filler.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
I really enjoyed this first issue. I’m 100% on board. It’s set to be an 8-issue mini but I already feel like I want it to continue because I can tell I’m going to be incredibly attached to Abel.
Make sure you get your copy from your local comic store!
Happy reading!
