Actionverse #1 (Featuring Fracture), written by Shawn Gabborin, picks up where Actionverse #1 (Featuring Molly Danger) left off as it continues the story of several favorite indie comic book characters such as Molly Danger, Midnight Tiger, and Stray attempting to stop a new villain that threatens their world. In this issue, the focus is on comic book characters Virtue and Malice from Fractured.
This issue takes a bit of a breather from the main storyline by introducing a new character named Virtue while also giving the reader some more background information on Malice. While Malice attempts to build a new machine that will suck the life force of everyone on the planet, he confides in his hostage how he came to be enslaved on another world due to being a fractured personality of another man. Meanwhile, Virtue, another fracture of the same person, arrives in unfamiliar territory and begins to take his namesake to a whole new level as he tries to rid the city of any and all criminals.
Actionverse #1 (Fracture) provides some much lacking humor with the interactions between Malice and his hostage. It’s a nice breather both in terms of tone and pacing. But it doesn’t feel too much of a breather as it still continues to propel the story through the backstory of Malice and Virtue. At times it can be a little hard to follow but again, the bio at the very end provides complete clarity on their situation. However, at the same time, I find myself more interested in reading Fractured where these characters originally stem from than any other comic book character in the series so far simply because not all the information is given and the concept of a person being fractured is interesting.
While reading it it feels as though there may not be a surprise or twist at the end, Actionverse #3 gives a pleasant surprise by introducing some long awaited characters. In fact, the surprise at the end ultimately saves the issue in many ways in addition to the humor at the beginning.
While the artwork by Chad Cicconi certainly fits the overall tone of the issue, it does feel like a bit of a downgrade from previous issues. The details certainly aren’t as vivid as previous installments and the action at times feels stinted. But it works whenever there is interaction between Malice and his hostage. The not as detailed style adds to any humorous moments between the two and while the interactions eventually take a darker turn, the comedic ones work fine with the art.
Actionverse #1 (Fracture) may be one of the weaker links in the chain of the Actionverse story arc but it still does a good enough job to keep the story engaging and leave the readers wanting more. And if there’s anything that can be said about the Actionverse series so far, it’s definitely that it can easily pull new audiences in the world of indie comics.
You can purchase your copy of Actionverse #1 (Featuring Fractured) through Atomic Empire’s website. Get your copy today! Once you’ve read your copy, let us know what you thought of it on Twitter or in the comments section below!
