Liberator #3

Cover:

The cover(by Ben Templesmith) gives the impression that the subject matter will be fairly dark in tone with it's dark tones and cracked look(that almost looks like leather to me, which I can't work out whether that would make sense for this series, given the contents), and the tools hovering ominously. It looks pretty good.

The stencilled style of the logo and the words of the subtitle seems to suggest that the heroes of this title are street level and independent. Having read the issue, this is true, so that works.

Art:

The art is handled by a different artist than the cover(Javier Aranda), and while it doesn't look the same, it's not so different that it's a problem. It's generally good, and is quite consistent throughout. The choices and handling of colours(by Joaquin Pereyra)is mostly good, but perhaps uses the old style pointillism colouring a little often. I'm O.K. with this technique generally, but it looks a bit out of place in parts of this. Also, there's tartan on bags near the start that appears to have been pasted in, as it remains perfectly square and level despite the appearance of the object it's on. Not a big problem, but I'd prefer to see hand drawn colours in this situation.

The art sort of reminds me of Trevor McCarthys work(on Batwoman at least, the only thing I've read of his). It's not exactly the same, but it has a kind of similar way about it. Some of it may be the colour palette, and the use of pointillism, though Guy Major uses it a little more sparingly.

Story/Writing:

The issue follows a pair of animal rights activists called Jeanette(from the cover) and Damon, and starts out with them stealing(or should I say Liberating) rabbits from a laboratory, and after a close call with the police, Damon smashes a window of the lab, which Jeanette objects to. The issue shows their fight against those who harm animals, with Jeanette taking on a more peaceful route, whilst Damon takes a more hands on approach, damaging the property and shops of a mink farmer called Trapper McMartin.

The issue ends with what is presented as a startling discovery, showing a picture of McMartin with his nephew Randy Miller. I don't know who this is, so perhaps it was explained in a previous issue, or maybe the problem is that he's a policeman?

The dialogue is generally good, and the way it's written shows the contrast between Jeanette and Damon well, showing their different methods in working towards the same goal. There's some swearing in the issue despite not mentioning a "parental advisory" or "mature content", which I think applies to swearing, right? There's what I would say is a medium amount, though it's a little overused on the first page.

Other Things Worth Mentioning:

There is very little advertising in the issue, limited to the back cover, inside and out, so no interruption to the story. 24 Pages of comic content for $3.50.

There's a one page Lil' Liberator by Sean Von Gorman, which is kind of cute. Is it just me, or is there a lot of cutesy versions of comic characters about at the moment?

There's also a pin-up of Jeanette by Megan Hutchison, and a one page prose account of an anti-whaling mission with the Sea Shepherd by Laura Dakin. It's an interesting story actually.

This comic series was apparently funded via Kickstarter.

Overall:

I thought it was pretty good. I didn't know comics about animal rights activism were a thing, but I suppose they can be about anything really. As a new reader, I understood what was going on, though it does seem like previous reading could have been helpful. I would maybe consider reading more. I think I'd give it a 3/5, but a high 3.