We Are The Danger #1
Written & Illustrated by Fabian Lelay
Colored by Claudia Aguirre
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Black Mask Studios does it again! The small but mighty Black Mask Studios puts out another gorgeous book: We Are The Danger. The title may mislead you, it is actually the name of a band. This first issue serves as the build the band issue, handling in one issue what many creators would give an arc. While the book does fly by because of this, it also kept the pacing tight.
The main character is named Julie Malliari, a Filipino girl immigrated from the Philippines. She makes friends with a girl named Tabitha, whom she waits for at a concert. She waits and waits for Tabitha, and after awhile, she fears she is being stood up. Then, she finds Tabitha on the stage as a drummer. She kicks butt pounding percussion, but she and the lead singer split after the show. So Tabitha and Julie start a band. They pick up a bassist and lead guitarist to fill out the group. The old lead singer learns about this, and it is on! Also, there is budding romance between two, maybe three characters, so you get all that glorious teenage awkwardness and butterflies.
The story is incredible. Because the story doesn’t take a whole six issue arc to build the band, there is little downtime. The comic flows beautifully for a slice of life comic, and when it finished, I was hungry for more. There is a lovely melodrama to the book, where there is budding romance and grudge fueled feuds. Add in the awesome indie garage band setting, and the book is full of life.
The art glows in this book, and from the first page, I breathed this fun world. Fabian Lelay draws a gorgeous interior. Claudia Aguirre colors this comic perfectly. Black Mask Studios has the best art of any company bar none. If its possible, I want to cover a wall in their art.
Verdict: Buy! This comic is amazing from the start to finish. I fell in love with the characters, and I can’t wait to see how the feud and romances escalate. This comic is the perfect break from our piles of superhero comics!
