Comic Review: Aron Warner's Pariah, Volume 1

Title: Aron Warner's Pariah
Authors:  Philip Gelatt, Aron Warner
Illustrator: Brett Weldele
Publisher: Sea Lion Books
Release Date: 07/24/2012
ISBN: 098361315X





I have to say, if the goal of Sea Lion Books sending me review copies is partially to make me want to own the physical books myself, they're achieving it with a rate that's probably scaring my checkbook. (Not that I don't scare it myself every time I walk into my local comic book store or Barnes & Nobles.) I need this book, just like I needed a copy of the first volume of Storm Born.

Brent Marks, a known Vitro, is desperately trying to live a normal high school life while suffering the slings and arrows of being known as an uber-geek. But, things go from bad to worse when the Vitro community, en-masse, is blamed for a fatal explosion in a military weapons lab and the subsequent release of a deadly toxin. Caught up in a global panic, the Vitros become subject to a groundswell of persecution, as they are declared terrorists and hunted down!


The first issue of the comic was rather slow in revealing its data, and despite the fast pace of the first volume, I'm still left with a lot of questions that haven't been answered. This is to be expected, as you don't give it all up in the first go, but I'm dying to know more about these characters. What exactly are the Vitros? They're smart, but why are they so different? How were they made? Were they really accidental? One of the characters in the series makes an off-hand remark about Vitros being an accident, but somehow I'm not so sure of that.

There's a lot of character introductions here, so you really only get enough to get a basic feel for the more important people. One of my two favorites has to be the super-smart yet somewhat out of touch Franklin, a Vitro that was raised in an unloving and completely isolated environment. As such he has the book smarts yet perhaps not the street smarts to deal with the others. The other favorite has to be the uber-creepy Maudsley, who thinks nothing of manipulating people with nothing but his words... to deadly effect. There's some pretty intriguing characters here and the first issue deals with the brainy Brent, but these two are the ones who truly stole the spotlight and odds are that they'd be the two best characters to watch. If they were real, I'd love to see what an interview with either of them would be like. (Although I'll admit that I'm grateful that Maudsley doesn't exist IRL. That I know of.)

Volume one of this series ends with quite a bang, so I'm glad that I had issue five bundled into my review copy. I'm going to write a mini-review for that, but I'll leave that on the final part of my blog. If you don't want spoilers, you'll want to stop here. If you want to know, read on. Just know that this is well worth the price of admission, and with all of the comics being adapted into movies or TV shows, this would be something that would look good on either screen. Absolutely worth checking out.

(Thar be spoilers, arr!)

Now for the evaluation of issue 5. The first volume ended with our intrepid teens waking to find themselves on an ancient space station. A space station that they soon discover is rapidly deteriorating to the point that they're going to die within five hours if they don't find a way to (if I could quote Tim Gunn) "make it work". This issue has them focusing their superhuman intellects on the task at hand, which is pretty interesting to watch. So far we've seen glimpses of what they can do, but never really any of the actual work in depth. This issue shows us how they might work as a team in the future. The issue is pretty well paced and as a result, is nice and exciting. There's also some great foreshadowing in the artwork by way of a well placed image in the helmet of a space suit (no spoilers on what it resembles!) and Weldele is to be congratulated on this. I'm rather happy that SLB has the same artist doing the artwork, as it allows for more collaboration between the teams and a better understanding of the story than if they'd brought someone else in partway through. (Plus I really dig his style.) Definitely a good followup to the cliffhanger of the first volume.


I know this sounds fangirlish, but this is one of those great indie series that will probably never get the attention it so very much deserves. 




Five out of five stars


(Reader copy provided by Sea Lion Books)

Comic Review: Pariah #1 by Aron Warner

Title:Pariah #1
Author: Aron Warner, Philip Gelaff
Artist: Brett Weldele
Publisher: Sea Lion Books
ISBN: 9780983613

Brent Marks is not a freak. He is one of the Pariah, a group of teens who become extremely intelligent after being cured of a genetic disorder. Although in most ways a normal teen, Brent is considered dangerous and is tracked down by the government who see these kids as an enormous threat. Can he evade them? What do they have planned for Brent and the others?

Aron Warner is the Academy Award®-winning producer of the animated blockbuster “Shrek” series. Mr. Warner joined PDI/Dreamworks in 1997 working as the producer on the animated film, Antz. He is currently in partnership with director Andrew Adamson in Strange Weather where they and partner Jeff Fierson are developing a slate of live action and animated feature films and television shows. He, producing alongside James Cameron, just wrapped the Untitled Cirque Du Soleil 3-D project, which was written and directed by Adamson. Pariah is his first graphic novel series.

The first thing I noticed about this comic was the artwork. Weldele chose to eschew the traditional comic artwork for a more dreamy, lush style. It works well to help the comic stand out, much as the main character of Brent does. It's gorgeous to look at and to me, was one of the best parts of the issue. It's more true to life than the traditional styles are, yet still reminds you that you're reading a comic.

The story of this is so far rather simple in design, which works for and against it. People looking for a ton of action will be slightly disappointed by the first issue since so much of it surrounds Brent trying to fit in at his school and appeal to a female friend. There's an ever present hostility due to the widespread public dislike of the Pariah, but that doesn't really come into play at first. By the end of the first issue I was hooked, but I have a feeling that this isn't going to be as well-loved as your average mainstream comic. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. Some of the best comics have been ones that have taken the comics world by surprise.

Overall this is something that's going to appeal more to readers of comics like Sandman or Bone. As the series unwinds and shows more of its wares I'm sure that we'll see more action, but this looks to be a comic that will appeal more to our human sides than the Michael Bay part of our brain.

3.7 out of 5 stars

(Reader copy provided by Sea Lion Books)