Sensory Distortion Review: A Psychedelic Stoner Adventure Comes Alive

Bleeding Ink Comics’ “Sensory Distortion” would make an awesome independent horror flick, but it makes an even better indie comic. One part “Evil Dead,” with a hint of “Troll Hunter” and “Scooby Doo,” it’s an engaging combination of gore, mystery and suspense.

The whole script feels borrowed- but never stolen- from classic ’80s horror flicks. Group of friends take a trip, get wasted- nothing bad is going to happen here, right? Although you’ll see the disaster coming, the way it all goes down is cool and makes some of the predictable plot points easily stomach-able.

The biggest problem in the trade is the predictable dialogue. While Jesse Grillo’s story is entertaining, anyone who’s enjoyed a Sam Raimi B-horror will almost be able to recite the dialogue verbatim. It’s not detrimental to the books success; it just robs some of the more creative possibilities with in.

What helps relieve this hiccup is the art. Full of color, the visuals by David Brame and Heather Breckel are insane. The feeling of being trapped within your own experiences, in a drug-induced haze, are absolutely captured. The fight or flight moments also provide perfect conflict and get the most out of the dialogue. Unlike many other independent comics, where writer and artist try to simply manage the highs and lows, the team here work well to maintain a constant feeling- this book has a clear identity in nearly every facet. Rather than show off or try to stretch itself too far, it controls itself and maintains your attention. Plain and simple, this team knows exactly what this trade was supposed to be. That’s why it ends up being exactly what it was supposed to be.

Digitally, the comic is beautiful on an iPad. The colors totally “pop.” By itself, the art makes this trade a perfect one for any comic book readers’ change of pace selection.

Bleeding Ink may be a comic book company you’ve never heard of, but “Sensory Distortion” is proof that they have potential.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14267 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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