Isom # 1- First book of the Rippaverse (contains heavy spoilers)

 By Mark Rodriguez

So here's a book I've been waiting for, for a while. Unlike most of the independent comics I have reviewed in the past that used indiegogo or Kickstarter, Eric July opted to open his own business and self-publish his first superhero comic in hopes it would become its own universe. The pre-order campaign ended at 3.7 million and sold way more orders for books, shirts, posters and caps than anyone could have prepared for. They are currently shipping and on their way. Due to this, read this review at your own discretion since I'm sure many customers have still not received their copy. Also since this is a 96 page epic, I won't be doing the usual play-by-play since that will take forever. I'll give a synopsis and my thoughts. 

Isom deals with Avery Silman, who gained powers and became the titular hero for a while. He discovered this sort of life wasn't for him so Avery retired and became a rancher. His sister calls him up one day and tells him about a family friend that has gone missing. Avery reluctantly finds himself thrown back into the superhero life he left behind as he searches for this family friend. What will happen? Let's check it out. 

Story summary-

The story opens with Avery getting a call from his sister Altona telling him about their family friend Jasmine has gone missing after taking an offer to work with their old friend Darren Fontaino. Avery is reluctant to return to the big city but does it because he doesn't want Jasmine's mother to worry. 

Avery heads to the city and finds Fontaino's business. He asks him about Jasmine, to which Darren refuses to give him a straight answer to. Seeing as they were friends in the past, Darren offers Avery the chance to walk away. Since Avery continues to ask about Jasmine and if she's safe, Darren sends his men after him. Avery has above normal strength and quick reflexes and is able to send people flying with his punches. Seeing this, Darren calls in an Except (a super powered person) named Santwan, a large man with amazing strength of his own. Avery is caught off guard and Santwan roughs him up. 

Outside of Fontaino's establishment, a female Except named Yaira was on a rampage for unknown reasons and it got to the point where the police called in a super-powered unit called Alphacore. During the fight, Santwan socks Avery out of the building and he happens to crash into Yaira. She thinks Avery is someone else that was sent by the person she's after due to him being so strong. To send a message, Yaira grabs Avery and takes to the sky. She lets him go and drops him onto a car.

Avery is taken to the hospital as the doctors consider he might be an Except after surviving being dropped onto a car from such a high distance. Avery has escaped from the hospital and calls his sister to pick him up. He gives Altona the details and he chooses to return to see Darren again. Avery considers that Darren might not be expecting him to return the same day. On top of that, Darren disrespected him and he won't let that stand. 

Avery returns to the city and finds out where Darren's nightclub is. He actually finds Jasmine and asks her if she's there voluntarily. She doesn't answer and walks away as Darren's men start to pick a fight with Avery. He beats them up and goes back to the club telling anyone that doesn't want to get involved to leave. People think he's crazy until the rancher starts sending people flying. Santwan is called back in and we get ready for round 2.

Santwan says they're both Excepts but he hates that term since they're all lumped in the same group and he sees himself above Avery. The rematch is a little more even and this time Avery manages to defeat him. Just then the police show up and Avery makes a run for it. He later shows up at his sister's house which wakes up her daughter. The daughter thinks her uncle is a superhero and he denies it. At this point Avery is more concerned that Darren might send his men after them in retaliation than Jasmine's safety. 

At the same time, Darren is indeed angry that some guy can just come in and cause trouble for his empire. He wants to send the message to his potential enemies that he is not somebody to mess with. He tells his men to find and take Avery down. 

Avery returns to the place where he originally got his superhero costume. His friend wants to make an upgraded version of the classic outfit but wants to see if the original still fits. Avery tries on his classic Isom outfit from his superhero days and it still fits him.

Elsewhere a band named Norfrica just finished a performance. As the crowd leaves they feel a danger in the area but think it's too soon to call for reinforcements as it would plunge the world into chaos. They also have superpowers. 

My thoughts- 

This was a pretty fun read and it gives off the classic 80's action movie vibe where the hero goes on a one man mission to take down the bad guys. The scene where Avery enters the club and tells whoever doesn't want to get hurt to leave was straight out of a movie. The comic goes all in on the action and is great at showing every punch and kick with dynamic angles and impact. You can feel how Santwan and Avery are roughing each other up. I can see why the story was told in 96 pages, Eric didn't want to skimp out on the action.

The story is pretty straightforward but it does open itself up to many questions regarding the world Avery finds himself in. Yaira makes a cameo as we don't know exactly what she's so angry about and why she's on a rampage. She has her own personal battles that Avery temporarily got mixed up in but it leaves one curious about her story. There's also the Alphacore that seems to be some sort of government run Except police force. We also get some random people with super powers chillin' at Fontaino's club, and we have that music band that are also some sort of superhero team. 

We still have a lot of interesting questions. While Avery put on his Isom outfit at the end, Yaira was running rampant in her civilian clothes. We never got to see her wear her costume. Also we still don't know how Avery got his powers. When he started kicking ass, it caught Fontaino by surprise. It seems he knew him before he obtained his powers. 

Avery himself seems like a cool dude. Pretty stoic and serious, we know he really does not want to return to his superhero life but he does so because Jasmine's mother has always been good to him. We do see him hang out with Altona's daughter for a bit which shows that he does have a soft side. He also seems to run a crew at the ranch and his coworkers respect him. I did find it funny that he returned to face Darren again, not so much about Jasmine's welfare, but more out of payback since he was disrespected. Now with Fontaino seeking retaliation, he also put the welfare of his family first over Jasmine's. It's different compared to the typical selfless heroes, but it makes sense in a realistic setting. It doesn't seem Avery is particularly close to Jasmine, so when you compare the safety of a person you kinda know to that of your close family, family always comes first. 

I only have two nitpicks, and one isn't really a nitpick. I enjoyed the story and I want to see more, but unfortunately these types of indie projects take a good while (several months up to a year) to come out. I'm anxious to find out what happens next, as well as future books coming out (I'm sure Yaira is getting one) but it will be a long wait.

The real complaint I do have is there are at least 2 pages that had a bit of ink smears. One page isn't so bad, but the first example was just difficult to ignore. I'm not sure if it's only my copy or if it's like that for everybody else. I really hope not and that was one of the things that did put a damper on an overall fun read.

I hope this was only my copy and not everybody else's. I get that this is the first book and mistakes will be made but I've never seen an indie book that had this type of thing

I also have a head-scratcher. There was a part where Avery and Santwan leap towards each other ready to punch each other in an epic splash page. Then the very next panel they're both skidding away from each other? What happened? I feel we're missing a panel of them doing the classic 'both guys punch each other at the same time' deal, or at least some sort of impact. That transition was very confusing especially since the big splash page was one of the panels advertised on the campaign's site and everything. It's also odd because otherwise this book has been very good with the fighting so I don't know what happened there.

Overall a fun read despite some beginner's mistakes here and there. I especially love the artwork and the fight scenes. I can't wait to read the next one and also see more of Yaira. As of now it seems Eric's team is 40 pages in with Isom# 2 and at least 3 more books are in the works, each with a different creative team. These other books won't be Isom books but will still take place in the Rippaverse.