Comic Review: Warped! Vol. 1

Warped! Volume 1

215 Ink

Writer/Artist: Fernando Pinto

I had no idea what this comic would be about. But There’s two lines in the description that really catch my interest. I read the description, and it was interesting to me. Cut to a couple of days later and I had time to read it. I couldn’t remember the description, except for two lines. ”The robot with the cargo shorts” and “alien porn stars”. Purely going off of that memory, I dove in, and this comic delivers on those two lines 100%.

Warped! Vol. 1 tells the story of Sandy and Angus, best friends and bounty hunters. With their main goal being to make enough money to pay the rent and turn their cable TV on. They take a simple enough job of transporting an intergalactic porn star, and keeping it under the radar. Of course things aren’t as simple as that. They find themselves facing off against other bounty hunters, alien gangsters, and a plot much bigger than they could imagine.

This book has a style to it that I really like. It knows what it is, but not in an over the top, fourth wall breaking way. It’s not serious, and is full of jokes and pop culture references. The main characters are mostly working to pay for their cable to watch a Jean Claude Van Damme movie marathon. The “villains” are delivering monologues, but there’s other characters behind their back being sarcastic and making jokes. It never reaches the point where it gets to be too much, which can be a problem in some stories. But this one hits the joke, then keeps moving forward without lingering.

With the writer and artist being the same person, Fernando Pinto, it really helps keep that tone consistent. It’s a cartoonish style, all black and white, but it keeps things simple. It’s a story that takes place in space, and there’s an abundance of aliens. The designs vary and none of them ever really fall into a generic look. There’s robots and aliens and some humans, all distinct, but with their own style.

I really like this book, it’s for sure up there with some of my favorites. But, it’s kind of hard for me to write about for the same reason. I can’t go into too much detail about the plot without spoiling it. I think the art is great for what it is. You wouldn’t usually find me reading too many black and white comics, but it works with this one. If any of it sounds interesting to you, I would definitely recommend checking this one out.