Speed Demonz #1 - Mobile Edition

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Speed Demonz #1
By Michael Vance
October 24, 2008 - 21:27

Angry Viking Press
Writer(s): Gabriel Lamberty
Penciller(s): Gabriel Lamberty
Inker(s): Gabriel Lamberty
Cover Artist(s): Gabriel Lamberty
$3.99, 32 pgs

Let’s do the math. Comic books in the early 1930s were 64 pages of art and story at about 12 panels per page. Most stories were eight pages in length. That equals about 768 panels for 10 cents, or a tiny fraction of 1 cent per panel.

Speed Demonz is 32 pages and most of those feature one, two, or three panels per page. There are 77 panels in the first issue. Cost: $4.00. That’s 19.25 cents per panel.

Is Speed Demonz worth it?

The Speed Demonz is “an underground street racing syndicate painting the city streets with death and violence.” It took less than two minutes to read it.

What happened?

A bunch of tough guys and gals pointed big guns and challenged each other to a race in fancy cars. I don’t know their names or anything about their personalities. There isn’t even a hint at what will follow in the second issue beyond a car race. The whole issue felt like the opening three minutes of a television show. If it were a television show, I wouldn’t be tuning in next week.

Sure the art is nice, anime influenced, and dynamic, but just slightly better than average. Without a story, however, it wouldn’t have made any difference to me if it had been drawn by Michelangelo.

Comics aren’t about art alone. We have lots of art galleries offering art for art’s sake. Comics aren’t only about story either. We have lots of short stories and novels that satisfy that need.

Nor is a comic book a television show or a motion picture. Comics is the marriage of art and story.

Speed Demonz isn’t even a first date.

Speed Demonz #1 is sold at comics shops and at www.angryvikingpress.com.