No Mercy #1
Writer: Alex De Campi
Artist: Carla Speed McNei
lPublisher: Image Comics
Release Date: April 1, 2015
No Mercy asks an interesting question: what would happen if characters akin to Archie and friends were to be thrust into a dark, stomach churning life or death situation in the form of a bus full of teenage kids careening off a cliff in a dangerous, undeveloped foreign country?
The problem is that absolutely nothing but the premise works.
I can’t tell if No Mercy is satire, drama or comedy. It’s a muddled, borderline annoying first outing that despite some good lines and acute observations about youth culture and American privilege, says more about its creators than it does its characters.
De Campi seems out of touch. The teen lingo and archetypes here are dated, dull and uninteresting. It’s hard to tell if it’s intentional or just an honest, out of touch mistake but either way it’s mundane and sometimes, frustrating. If this is satire, it needs to say something more than just mock, which it doesn’t. If it is an honest drama, De Campi needs to get rid of some preconceived notions about our youth and start writing human beings not, cartoonish exuberant mega egos like there is here because the premise and, the last section of the book is something different, knowing and accessible.
The art is good in its own way. It’s cartoon-like, sleek, colorful and clean but it’s also unrepresentative of the story that De Campi is trying to tell. As much as I appreciate the inclusion of emojis and text bubbles in the art, they don’t really do anything more than the characters already do themselves. It’s overkill. Pretty overkill, but still overkill.
No Mercy is a rough first outing, it’s hard to tell what these creators were going for and it’s hard to find many redeeming qualities when the book hits you over the head with its worst parts. If they reign it in, hone some stuff and focus on one specific direction, they might have a thrilling tale of survival and human nature but right now, it’s nothing close to that.
Artist: Carla Speed McNei
lPublisher: Image Comics
Release Date: April 1, 2015
No Mercy asks an interesting question: what would happen if characters akin to Archie and friends were to be thrust into a dark, stomach churning life or death situation in the form of a bus full of teenage kids careening off a cliff in a dangerous, undeveloped foreign country?
The problem is that absolutely nothing but the premise works.
I can’t tell if No Mercy is satire, drama or comedy. It’s a muddled, borderline annoying first outing that despite some good lines and acute observations about youth culture and American privilege, says more about its creators than it does its characters.
De Campi seems out of touch. The teen lingo and archetypes here are dated, dull and uninteresting. It’s hard to tell if it’s intentional or just an honest, out of touch mistake but either way it’s mundane and sometimes, frustrating. If this is satire, it needs to say something more than just mock, which it doesn’t. If it is an honest drama, De Campi needs to get rid of some preconceived notions about our youth and start writing human beings not, cartoonish exuberant mega egos like there is here because the premise and, the last section of the book is something different, knowing and accessible.
The art is good in its own way. It’s cartoon-like, sleek, colorful and clean but it’s also unrepresentative of the story that De Campi is trying to tell. As much as I appreciate the inclusion of emojis and text bubbles in the art, they don’t really do anything more than the characters already do themselves. It’s overkill. Pretty overkill, but still overkill.
No Mercy is a rough first outing, it’s hard to tell what these creators were going for and it’s hard to find many redeeming qualities when the book hits you over the head with its worst parts. If they reign it in, hone some stuff and focus on one specific direction, they might have a thrilling tale of survival and human nature but right now, it’s nothing close to that.
A Look Inside
