Treatment Mexico City Review: The Real Thing

The first episode of Dave Gibbon’s “Treatment,” via the Madefire app, was a tease. It showed off the visual storytelling capabilities of the platform, but little else.

Treatment: Mexico City, with its stylish Brian Bolland cover, Robbie Morrison’s script and Dougie Brathwaite’s art, however, has it all.

Even without the killer sound effects, from the sound of crow’s caws to gunshots and breaking glass, the comic is still engaging. With the sound off, the aesthetically pleasing popping-panels and smooth transitions make for an engaging tale, but all together, you have an engrossing experience.

In the end, that’s exactly what this application is supposed to do-enhance already stellar stories. No longer a cool idea, “Treatment: Mexico City” is proof that the Madefire app is the place for comic book creators sick of old conventions.

Morrison’s script has an Alan Moore scope, but it also possesses a Frank Miller grit to it that will immediately attract comic die-hards. Although it’s over in two shakes of a lamb’s tale, which is the case with most MadeFire comics, the characters are intriguing and the action is break-neck. Although some of the characters of “Treatment” are on the cliché side, with the revenge-seeking authoritative figure and the tough gal out to prove herself, there’s enough different devices in the plot to keep you interested.

A former Mexican boxing champion (That looks a bit like Manny Pacquiao meets Charles Bronson), a part of a worldwide police task force that’s also a reality show? A Mexican wrestler turned drug dealer? Morrison has your attention now, doesn’t he?

At the same time, with all the action and backstory in this episode, you get the feeling reading that the story is about to break wide open.

Brathwaite’s art is similar to Gibbons’, but behind fantastic colors by Angus McKie, another industry veteran, the visuals are more than solid. Brathwaite has been in the industry forever, working alongside greats like Denny O’Neil, Grant Morrison and Alex Ross, but this could be the work that gets him more mainstream attention. The same thing goes for McKie, who has a reputation as a brilliant artist of sci-fi novel covers, not particularly comic book color work.

If this team can stay together for a period of time and find some type of creative synergy, “Treatment” will be, for many, their iPad’s new best friend.

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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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