In Review: Vessels

By Colin Noble on July 23, 2016

Card Shark Comics has launched their second title and it is worth checking out. A mixture of fantasy, horror and the cold hard light of day merge together to give a very interesting Issue One.

The story begins with our hero Wake running to escape the slavers from Stratum. But little do the slavers know that they are the least of Wake’s troubles, as she is not only on the run from them but a demonic entity that can destroy realities…

I can’t reveal any more of the plot line without putting in spoilers. I know that you can find more if you search for it , but I hope that my teaser gives you enough of an idea that this is a comic worth spend four of your finest pounds on

We have three main characters, Wake, Marillon and G’dala, which gives us an a strong female cast, headlining a story where it feels very natural for two of the three leads to be women. When you consider you have only been given a 32-page introduction, that is no mean feat for the writer to achieve this.

I was first introduced to Dave Cook‘s work in Bust and I was impressed with his writing in his first foray into independent publishing. His work in Vessels has done nothing but confirm my first impression that if Dave gets the right break, he could be going places.

Having seen the pencils on this project, I think Rafael Desquitado Jr‘s art fits the piece perfectly. He manages to juxtapose the make believe of a medieval fantasy with the mundane of current life and does it in a way that each part merges into the other seamlessly.

The only negative I have about the piece is Dennis Lehmann‘s colouring. It is just a little bit bright for my colour blind eyes and takes a bit of getting used to. I’ll admit this is just down to my personal taste and after the first 20 pages, I got used to it.

If I was asked what this comic reminded me of most, then I would have to say that there are shades of the Thomas Covenant novels, written by Stephen Donaldson. And there is a lovely little scene that pays homage to Dave Cook’s other series, Bust.

• Vessels #1 by Dave Cook, with art by Rafael Desquitado Jr, Dennis Lehmann, lettered by Garrett Gunn is out now from Card Shark Comics and is on sale now 19th July 2016 at most Scottish Forbidden Planet stores and can be bought through the ComicsHaus platform

Colin Noble

A life-long comic fan, specialising mainly in UK adventure comics, Colin did his very best to support his passion for the comics of his youth, Commandos (still going!) and any small press that interested him. Sadly, Colin passed in March 2021, an invaluable downthetubes team member, much missed by us all