AfterShock Comics Reviews: Dark Red, Dead Day, Out of Body, We Live, Almost American, Bunny Mask
Reviews on the following Aftershock comics in the order I read them:
- Dark Red 10
- Dead Day 3-5
- Out of Body 1-3
- We Live FCBD
- Almost American 1
- Bunny Mask 1
Individual series information can be found here
Series: Dark Red
Issue: 10
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
I finally got to this! And got it :)
This is a very good end to the series. It was funny and heartwarming, and also had a great character boost.
I had to laugh at the line “war is boring...until it isn’t.”
Stu isn’t awful. I can’t remember how I felt of him before, but he had a not-so-great past and really turns out for Chip in the end.
The Armisticio twist shocked me...until it didn’t hahaha.
Evie has some leadership shoes to fill, and for good reason.
I smiled a lot at the end scene.
Series: Dead Day
Issues: 3-5
Rating: 4.7/5 stars
I had to reread my review of the first two because I didn’t remember what was going on. So I went into the third issue with some rolling eyes because Brandon had annoyed me at first.
Does he get better? Actually, yeah. He realizes quick that Lily isn’t actually into him and then he learns about his past as the reader does. It’s not surprising, but it’s also not an awful twist.
I like that we get more of the dead’s POV.
Mellisa brings Jeremy home which is more awkward for me to read than I think it is for Daniel. Hell, he walks in on Melissa embracing Jeremy (with his helmet on still, but it was definitely romantic) and thinks little of it. Granted, their lives were all at risk, but still…
By the end, I felt like the series is actually a beautiful homage to the cycle of life.
Series: Out of Body
Issues: 1-3
Rating: 4.9/5 stars
Only not a 5-star because I don’t have them all! But this definitely is a very interesting story, especially considering I didn’t think I’d enjoy it so much. We open on a young and very sensitive psychic/medium named Abi who can actually go out of her body and experience spirits who haven’t crossed over yet. I am not usually super into those types of stories, but this isn’t about the occult.
Or, if it is, they’re the bad guys. Abi is being sought after by her former mentor, August Fryne. She left him when she realized he was into some not-so-good things. Hell, we see his obsession with Abi which crosses the line into absolute creepy and icky.
Abi is very drawn to a man named Dan who is in a coma, but he doesn’t know why. She feels it’s very important to help him learn who attacked him, and why. He’s a psychologist and the work he does with psychedelics is, to me, bonkers. For all his maturity, he’s also a bit naive. Dan’s character is pretty interesting. I like how he and Abi work off each other. Though I honestly thought she was an older teen at first and then he finds her attractive, which places her age (hopefully) in the early ‘20s at least.
The Book of Dying & Not Dying at the end of issue 1 fills in the character sheets a bit more, and helps with the plot.
Abi is much more powerful than August realizes, at least at first.
The colored sprinkles on the cover represent the astral where the spirits exist.
Series: We Live
Issue: FCBD 2021
Rating: 4/5 stars
This was a mediocre issue. It says it’s set before the events in the main story but also seems to be setting up the second arc. For a free comic though, there’s quite a bit of content here.
Series: Almost American
Issue: 1
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
This is inspired by a real life husband/wife pair of Russian spies whose lives paralleled those in the comic. The information at the end of issue 1 is quite interesting.
Alexy and Victorya are Federal Security Service (FSB) agents. They were born into their roles, until the state turned against them. They go to the US embassy in the D.R. for help, with intelligence that they want to share with the CIA.
It isn’t much in issue 1, but I truly want to keep reading. I apparently really like history when it’s given to me in comic form.
Series: Bunny Mask
Issue: 1
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
The art is not my aesthetic, but the story is a solid 4.8/5 stars. MAN this is creepy as all get-out.
A man named Leo has a daughter named Bee. He hears a voice of “the snitch” in his head...and he’s a murderer with a hidden cave under his home. A man named Tyler goes to the house with his partner from the state to check on Bee. Partner is killed; Tyler is sent to work in the cave with Bee. Creepy happens with a lady/girl in a bunny mask and he’s found on the front lawn, not bleeding.
That was in 2004. 14 years later, Tyler and Bee accidentally reunite while cops are investigating Bee’s former home. Something even more crazy is revealed at that time.
The information at the end of this issue made my skin crawl.
I can’t wait to keep reading.
- Dark Red 10
- Dead Day 3-5
- Out of Body 1-3
- We Live FCBD
- Almost American 1
- Bunny Mask 1
Individual series information can be found here
Series: Dark Red
Issue: 10
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
I finally got to this! And got it :)
This is a very good end to the series. It was funny and heartwarming, and also had a great character boost.
I had to laugh at the line “war is boring...until it isn’t.”
Stu isn’t awful. I can’t remember how I felt of him before, but he had a not-so-great past and really turns out for Chip in the end.
The Armisticio twist shocked me...until it didn’t hahaha.
Evie has some leadership shoes to fill, and for good reason.
I smiled a lot at the end scene.
Series: Dead Day
Issues: 3-5
Rating: 4.7/5 stars
I had to reread my review of the first two because I didn’t remember what was going on. So I went into the third issue with some rolling eyes because Brandon had annoyed me at first.
Does he get better? Actually, yeah. He realizes quick that Lily isn’t actually into him and then he learns about his past as the reader does. It’s not surprising, but it’s also not an awful twist.
I like that we get more of the dead’s POV.
Mellisa brings Jeremy home which is more awkward for me to read than I think it is for Daniel. Hell, he walks in on Melissa embracing Jeremy (with his helmet on still, but it was definitely romantic) and thinks little of it. Granted, their lives were all at risk, but still…
By the end, I felt like the series is actually a beautiful homage to the cycle of life.
Series: Out of Body
Issues: 1-3
Rating: 4.9/5 stars
Only not a 5-star because I don’t have them all! But this definitely is a very interesting story, especially considering I didn’t think I’d enjoy it so much. We open on a young and very sensitive psychic/medium named Abi who can actually go out of her body and experience spirits who haven’t crossed over yet. I am not usually super into those types of stories, but this isn’t about the occult.
Or, if it is, they’re the bad guys. Abi is being sought after by her former mentor, August Fryne. She left him when she realized he was into some not-so-good things. Hell, we see his obsession with Abi which crosses the line into absolute creepy and icky.
Abi is very drawn to a man named Dan who is in a coma, but he doesn’t know why. She feels it’s very important to help him learn who attacked him, and why. He’s a psychologist and the work he does with psychedelics is, to me, bonkers. For all his maturity, he’s also a bit naive. Dan’s character is pretty interesting. I like how he and Abi work off each other. Though I honestly thought she was an older teen at first and then he finds her attractive, which places her age (hopefully) in the early ‘20s at least.
The Book of Dying & Not Dying at the end of issue 1 fills in the character sheets a bit more, and helps with the plot.
Abi is much more powerful than August realizes, at least at first.
The colored sprinkles on the cover represent the astral where the spirits exist.
Series: We Live
Issue: FCBD 2021
Rating: 4/5 stars
This was a mediocre issue. It says it’s set before the events in the main story but also seems to be setting up the second arc. For a free comic though, there’s quite a bit of content here.
Series: Almost American
Issue: 1
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
This is inspired by a real life husband/wife pair of Russian spies whose lives paralleled those in the comic. The information at the end of issue 1 is quite interesting.
Alexy and Victorya are Federal Security Service (FSB) agents. They were born into their roles, until the state turned against them. They go to the US embassy in the D.R. for help, with intelligence that they want to share with the CIA.
It isn’t much in issue 1, but I truly want to keep reading. I apparently really like history when it’s given to me in comic form.
Series: Bunny Mask
Issue: 1
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
The art is not my aesthetic, but the story is a solid 4.8/5 stars. MAN this is creepy as all get-out.
A man named Leo has a daughter named Bee. He hears a voice of “the snitch” in his head...and he’s a murderer with a hidden cave under his home. A man named Tyler goes to the house with his partner from the state to check on Bee. Partner is killed; Tyler is sent to work in the cave with Bee. Creepy happens with a lady/girl in a bunny mask and he’s found on the front lawn, not bleeding.
That was in 2004. 14 years later, Tyler and Bee accidentally reunite while cops are investigating Bee’s former home. Something even more crazy is revealed at that time.
The information at the end of this issue made my skin crawl.
I can’t wait to keep reading.