The Warning # 1

Image Comics

Writer and Artist: Edward Laroche

The Warning combines authentic military language with a classic science fiction plot. Published by Image Comics and written and drawn by Edward Laroche, The Warning offers fans of military science fiction a new series to be excited about.

Story:

Classic plots easily become cliches in a genre that is often as formulaic as military science fiction. However, The Warning treads a fine line between classic and cliche to offer up a visually stunning, if tried piece of work.

The plot begins with the observance of a honey bee landing on a flower. A caption graces each panel; the internal dialogue of a soldier. His thoughts are poetic, his musing existential in nature, setting a tone that readers can’t forget even after the panels pull back and show readers a scene of an airbase. Soldiers gear up for an airdrop.

A flashback ensues. A woman sleeps on a couch. She looks worse for wear. The phone call she answers gets her out of bed, however. The military program that Congress scrapped, it’s back on, and it’s time for her to get to work. She ups her self with some coke from a small bottle. In the final panel, she looks better, her eyes clear. She’s ready to work.

Character:

Characters in this first issue are fleeting. The soldier appears at the beginning and end of the piece and is a likely protagonist, but so too are the two scientists introduced in their own cut-scenes. There is a lot of dialogue about what is happening, but not about who is involved. Much of the dialogue is military in style with code names and number signs, but by the end of the issue, most of the names readers have been introduced to are meaningless due to the briefness of exposure. The bad news: character in this issue takes back seat. The good news: there’s a lot of room for expansion in the issues ahead.

Art:

The art in this piece is stunning. Laroche is at his best with simple pale background panels in which nothing hides. In darker, or washed light panels, he tends to busy up the page in an attempt to find definition. The result is cluttered panels in these instances. However, with lighter backgrounds, he uses fewer lines and his panels become more simple to the benefit of the presentation. The best sequence, in this readers opinion, is that including the coke snorting Dr. Lin in the middle of the issue. Hopefully, subsequent issues of The Warning feature the brevity of these bright panels.