26 February 2012

Review: Sacrifice by Sam Humphries and Dalton Rose


Sacrifice – Sam Humphries (w) Dalton Rose (a)
Self-published, $3.99, six-issue miniseries

While self-publishing comics is nothing new, self-distributing is an altogether ballsier move.  Sam Humphries showed that he knew how to work the system, though, with last year’s one-shot Our Love is Real — a story about people having sex with dogs and vegetables.  Puerile subject-matter aside, what was shocking about that comic was how successful it became without any reliance on Diamond Comic Distribution.  Instead, the creators sold direct to comic shops, and with some viral marketing and a little help from hyperbole-addict Rich Johnson’s Bleeding Cool website, it sold out of its first printing…and its four other subsequent printings.  While that put it at a little over 1,000 copies sold, for a book about zoophilia, that’s not bad.


Humphries has returned with a longer series, Sacrifice, which carries a more serious tone, but retains the same business model.  It seems to be working and the first two issues have sold out of their first printings, with the book keeping momentum with a regular bi-monthly schedule.  But the main question is, beneath all the hype, is it any good?

From the first three issues, signs would point to yes.  Humphries is certainly a writer of imagination and the set-up for the series is elegant, yet intriguing.  Hector is a young Joy Division fan (he wears an Unknown Pleasures t-shirt throughout the series) who is suffering from epilepsy, and as a possible result of a tattoo he has, he finds himself travelling in time to an ancient Aztec civilization.  Whether this is real, or is simply a by-product of his condition, is one of the series’ central enigmas.  But surrounding Hector’s time-travelling antics are his domestic issues with his family who are struggling to cope with his illness, and his own teenage existential dilemmas.

In Dalton Rose, Humphries has discovered a raw new talent and a worthy collaborator.  His angular, clear lines are slick enough to suggest the contemporary sheen of now, but he’s also not afraid to steep his pages in pools of black to really bring out the mystery and malevolence of the Aztec scenes.  There’s clear influence from Paul Pope and Mike Allred in his work, yet he has a strong grasp of body language and action that it never feels swiped or too derivative.  In fact, in some of the book’s trippier sequences, we begin to see a real distinct voice emerging, and it’s a real joy to see a young artist cut their teeth on something so unique, rather than rehashing genre tics that have been played-out countless times before.

Selling a book based on the Aztecs and Joy Division was probably not the safest move in comics, especially with such a risky distribution method.  However, that shows the conviction that Humphries and Rose have in their work — this isn’t a shock-tactic gimmick that might get some curiosity purchases, nor is it a model than can ride the speculator train indefinitely.  So, it’s just as well that the content justifies their reputation.

-- Gavin Lees

2 comments:

I've really enjoyed this comic so far, it's a breath of fresh air. It really shows that Sam Humphries is writing about subjects close to his heart in Sacrifice (namely the Aztecs and troubled youth) and his enthusiasm is infectious.

As you said, Humphries has put one heck of a team together here. The strengths of Dalton Rose are fully realised in those seizure/spirit-quest pages and he captures the atmosphere of the Aztec civilisation so very convincingly. The colourist (sadly can't remember the name) is fantastic too.

It's on a mid-series break for a month but I cant wait for #4.

Internationally this sort of delineation practice is expanding approbation and numerous standard this site symbolization and outline displays hold expos of tattoo outlines and tattoo pictures. The mainstream name for tattoo outlines is Flash.

Post a Comment

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More