Leviathan is written and lettered by John Layman, illustrated by Nick Pitarra, and colored by Michael Garland. Leviathan is published by Image Comics and was created by Layman and Pitarra.
There’s nothing worse than running out of beer at a party. You always have to carefully choose who will go out and buy more. This time it’s one of the party hosts, Ryan who takes one for the team. Ryan and his friend Johnny venture out on an epic quest for beer. Why do I say epic? Don’t worry guys I’m getting there.
Johnny and Ryan do their best to stay on their mission of beer, but there are some distractions coming from some random people screaming about the end times on the streets. Ryan and Johnny wouldn’t be in this situation if someone hadn’t invited Goth Jimmy. Jimmy brought some rude friends and they went through all the beer reserves. What’s worse than a party with no beer? Actual human interaction is scary, right?
While Ryan and Johnny are talking about normal daily things that I think most of us can relate to things start to get weird. What do I mean by that? Well, the the sky lights up with flames for starters. And, a strange creature comes out from those flames. It’s a massive monster. Ryan and Johnny stand bewildered for a moment.
So how would you react if a huge monster appeared in your city and was going straight to the apartment your friends are all waiting for you at? Fight or Flight. Well our main character Ryan chooses to fight. Johnny decides he doesn’t want to die first and chooses flight. Ryan takes off to run toward the huge beast in hopes of saving his friends.
Things I really liked about this comic are introductions to various characters that were short, simple, and to the point. But, the introductions also helped establish all of the characters roles easily. Which made for good story establishment in this first issue. Layman does so much groundwork for the reader to get you pumped for the next issue. Leviathan’s story-telling is exactly what you want from any absurdly epic tale.
Other things that were good about Leviathan? The humor. The artwork in the comic conveys the humor perfectly. I’m not usually a fan of overly gory stuff. But, I think that the absurd humor in this comic works so well with the gore the art conveys.
The art in this comic is so different from most of the current styles I see. I get a sense of a 90’s throwback in Nick Pitarra’s art that works perfectly with this story so far. The only thing I thought was a bit odd was a random shirt falling down resulting in a bra scene, and getting a little too up close and personal with a certain character, but that’s what Mature ratings are for. And who doesn’t love huge monsters that destroy cities Godzilla style?
Rating: 8/10
