Right, so here’s Obtowers' review on the Nigerian comic entitled,
“Blood Trail #1 and #2:Death, the only reason to Live”.
Comic was created: by Chukwuka Chinedu.
Brought to Obtowers by “Real Fiction Comics”,Obtowers decided to do an overall review on the two issues Real Fiction Comics have out so far, to establish some clarity and perspective. Realizing this as one of the very candid review of this Nigerian comic book, We”ll be writing, and considering the state of the so-called comic industry in Nigeria, this “perspective” is something that people need to take into account especially for those who don’t have any idea of what it takes to make a comic book in Nigeria. We're not talking about the art, or story, or graphics but rather, taking into account how difficult it is to make comics in Nigeria, and most especially the gross lack of support shown by Nigerians for the people trying very hard to push around this very medium in the country. That not withstanding, We will endeavour to be as honest as possible with this review and every review we write henceforth.
REVIEW:Chukwuka Chinedu is a comic artist and creator with Real Fiction comics, a relatively new comic enterprise who seem to have come out of the gates running, with upcoming titles like “Black Apostle”, a recently released teaser in “Brute”- and of course-their first major release with “Blood trail #1: Death the only reason to Live.” Immediately, we have to say that the tag-line for the series was a bothering reason that made most readers challenge their reads for this book. The synopsis for the comic is pretty simple, The main characters- once part of a powerful dynasty- have been displaced and now seek revenge on the tyrant who murdered their father and King. The story in itself is actually well crafted, and at times the dialogue wasn't that bad at all plus the intentional way the characters speak within a specific and identifiable style and pattern is what we found somewhat unique. For instance, there’s a part where Malik the leader of the Centaurs chastises one of his brethren by saying:
“…As for you, Genius of great ideas…you think Malik would die for anyone…Malik wont even die for himself.”Alaric, Nkara, Nigus and Atlas Goodservant especially seem to be have their moments in the pertaining scenes they were featured in. In issues #2, the story continues with the smart but not too revealing introduction of the villains. And then goes on to give a little insight into the character and motives of Atlas Goodservant, which resulted in a pretty interesting battle/duel of Radical Excitabilities (Show of magical/Supernatural/Super human abilities).
However, Chinedu is a very talented personality in the scripting of an impeccable story drive and this talent was clearly proven, as one issue later (in issue two), the art suddenly improved in leaps and bounds. We had to extremely take into account that Blood Trail #1 was Real Fiction comics' first attempt at making a D.Y.I comic title and all in all the art and colors sort of lent itself to a genre of story-telling not often seen in Nigerian comics today. While most opt for superheroes and such, Real Fiction comics have gone for the genre of Fantasy Adventure, as is seemingly the case with all the titles they are presently working on, and has eventually become a genre, we all really fancy.
VERDICT! From I-Kin Busterer's Table (Graphic Editor/Manager, Mangafrique Comics)
The art in issue two got way better when compared with issue one and so did the colouring, which shows the creators' willingness to continue to improve on the story, scripting, drawing and all aspects of making this comic a serialized Nigerian comic. I also get the itching feeling each time i spread my gaze at any issues of their comic arc, that (the writers of the series) Chukwuka Chinedu, Damson Kaycee and Bunmi Ohis will eventually make a formidable and impressive writing team as they devote more time into crafting their story and style. Hence these guys should religiously hone their skills and we'll be seeing the mannifestations of their abilities in upcoming issues or features as the case may be in the Nigerian comic sphere.
