Warzone #1 Review: Drug-Inspired Action Done Mediocre

Bleeding Ink comics scored big earlier this year with “Sensory Distortion,” a trade oozing with ’80s horror nostalgia and some great art, but one of the label’s other titles, “Warzone,” suffers from a completely different fate.

In spite of the bloody fight scenes and action in the debut issue, there’s not enough meat to support all the flash and bang.

If Michael Bay could create a comic, it would be something like Warzone.”

The visuals of penciler David Brame and colorist Heather Beckel allow the comic to hold weight with any series by a major publisher. Colorful, fast and polished, this team has the potential to make waves. Brame’s facial expressions on baddies are reminiscent of the work of Greg Capullo and Beckel’s coloring brings out added emotions in every scene.

The real problem, an ailment that also hurt “Sensory Distortion” is the dialogue and story. Jesse Grillo’s plot, although interesting, is too confusing to enjoy. In the first issue, the myriad of characters introduced and killed are almost too many to count. The shifts in time, although needed to tell the story, hurt the pacing. but the worst problem with the plot is that there’s no one to root for, no one to get attached to.

What makes the main character, Johnny, cool enough to warrant his own series?

By the end of the first issue, you may not care enough about him to continue the adventure. With his Shaggy from “Scooby Doo” look and drug problems, there’s nothing particularly eye-catching about him. He looks like a stoner. Maybe that’s the point. But aside from Iron Man and Green Arrow, heroes with drug problems don’t last too long as superheroes.

In order to survive, Johnny has to show he is special. That moment isn’t in the series’ debut issue.

Johnny does have a back story that could be his saving grace however. A war veteran turned drug dealer, Johnny is plagued with flashbacks. These trips down memory lane are beautifully orchestrated, but the returns to the present lack cohesion. In the middle of a botched drug deal, crooked cops included, it’s hard to know what’s going on. It doesn’t help that every character spews meaningless dialogue around and never stands out.

While Johnny isn’t necessarily a bad guy and just someone who is lost, this comic doesn’t make him feel as if he’s worth saving.

But with its solid art, “Warzone” deserves a second issue. Johnny has to become captivating quickly though. Otherwise, this series will get fall into a flashback it’ll never be able to escape from.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 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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