Words & Face #1
Sonic Comics
Written and Created by: John Marsh
Art by: Zach Brunner
Its no secret by now that comics are taking over the world and with an increasing number of eyes on the medium new publishers seem to pop up every week. Sonic Comics is one such publisher and they released their first comic Words & Face #1 on December 25th, 2015. Starting a comic book publisher is definitely a risky venture, but when you have a comic like Words & Face in your stable you can probably rest little easier at night. I know it doesn’t have the best name, but Words & Face #1 is mysterious, engaging and subtle in all the right ways.
We open cold, as two men who will later call themselves Words and Face infiltrate a highly guarded facility. Words who is appropriately named because he has powers ala The Purple Man, in that he can influence others to do whatever he wants just by speaking to them. Its a great ability as its powerful, has limits and can influence our characters personality. He is arrogant, no sealant and seemingly clueless but how could you not be when everyone will do whatever you ask. Face is his partner and is given the moniker simply because he is very attractive, but don’t worry he has his secrets as well.
The joy of this comic comes from watching these two men interact as they easily dispatch guards and bicker all the way to their goal. I won’t spoil too much for you here but all I can say is a lot happens, without a lot happening. By that I mean we get a ton of character, background, story, plot and of course reveals through the issues 23 pages but its delivered primarily through character interactions and a brief climatic event. John Marsh has created a comic in which we are just dropped into this world and viewing things as they happen. It’s a style that works extremely well in Words & Face #1 as I feel like I know just enough to need to know what happens next. Marsh’s work really shines in his dialogue because its so engaging. I could just listen to these to characters interact for hours. Marsh may not fill this issue with a bunch of in your face action but instead its a slow built to and explosive ending that will have any reader coming back for issue 2.
Words & Face has an art style that is cartoonish and detailed. Characters pop of the page and facial expressions take over panels as Zach Brunner brings us a vibrant, living world. It feels very anime influenced but extremely western at the same time. Characters are extremely expressive, leaving little to the imagination. Brunner’s style is simply put, pleasing to the eye, it almost hard to look away from at times, as the detail and characters drawn you in.
Words & Faces #1 is a tremendous start for new publisher Sonic Comics. Marsh and Brunner are subtly revealing an intriguing superhero story. Our first issue plays very much like the opening of a movie and its an excellent way to introduce these characters and world without heavy exposition. Instead the focus is on character and world building, making Word & Face #1 a comic worth checking out.