REVIEW: CORONARY #1

I’m a huge comic book fan, Iron Man being my favorite character and the like for others such as Nightwing, Moon Knight and Nightcrawler. Yeah, I know… they’re all part of Corporate Comics, but I do enjoy the characters and their stories. I am also a big fan and supporter of Independent (Indie) Comics because they have a greater creative freedom. With their range of creativity, Indie Comics can offer a diverse selection of content that varies both in tone and genre. Enthusiasts like me know this, but the casual comic reader may not.

I’m telling you this because I wanted to write about a title that was not main stream to show that Indie Comics should not be overlooked. This article is about an indie hidden gem, Coronary issue #1, published in April 2017. Written by Ryan Burke, art by Joel Saavedra and coloring by Damian Panalba, Coronary is planned to be a 12-episode series where issue #1 is now available on Amazon and issue #2 is in the works as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

No, this book is not about heart attacks. Here’s the creative team description of Coronary episode #1:

Plastic surgery is free. London is gripped by madness, dominated by cosmetic surgeons, lifestyle coaches and pill-pushers. Within this insanity, a neurotic businessman reconsiders the course of his life when a freethinking outsider crashes into it. But she doesn’t want him, or anyone.

Justin must put his business aside and concentrate on what it means to live, love, and be loved in return. He created an unattainable standard for women that drove them to buy his miracle pills and pushed them into the arms of his surgeons. Due to this, he has enemies both legal and criminal, that want to end ventures permanently. Throughout this chaos, Luna hopes to help him achieve redemption, while he’s still breathing that is.

Synopsis

In this issue, a reader can see that the story’s inspiration is derived from how today’s society struggles with dissatisfaction of their appearance trying to live up to an impossible standard. Cunningly written, the comic explores the concept of manufactured beauty & identity that’s trying to fix people’s insecurities and its effects on the world becoming increasingly shallow and materialistic. People are losing the true meaning of beauty and everyone in this story has lost something they love; purpose, family, self-respect, humanity.

On the art side of the comic, I think that Joel and Damian provide great scenes that communicate the beginnings of a true Romeo and Juliet story where two people are in search for what they have lost in this fake world. Characters are the hardest thing to draw, especially when we are talking about regular people without costumes to easily distinguish one person from the next. The artistry of this story has captured the expressions and feelings in every moment.

Conclusion

Overall, this book was a great experience and brought my attention to one of today’s biggest issues with society. It explores what it means to love in a loveless and deranged society, that is pushed to its limit. The story kept me reading and wanting more, and the art really matches the story line.  I’d recommend acquiring your copy of this comic book.