A review by emsemce123
Spencer & Locke, Vol. 1 by David Pepose, Jorge Santiago Jr., Jasen Smith, Colin Bell

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

You want the pitch? OK, the pitch is this, imagine if Calvin and Hobbes lived in Frank Miller's Sin City and grew up to become detectives. That's exactly what this is and wears its inspirations on its sleeves so well you already know what it's going for, especially if you're familiar with the source material it draws its inspiration from. It definitely nails that Calvin and Hobbes aesthetic but clashes in tone with the dark subject matter shown in Locke's childhood flashbacks and not that it's very deep but I like how the flashbacks show how and why he knows to do the things he does as an adult Detective and fleshing out the backstory and characters relationships. If I'm nitpicking it; it feels heavy on the action but light on the actual mystery and Detective work. There's a big character reveal that comes across more lackluster I feel because it was kept a secret where I think it would've worked better if it was just openly addressed at the beginning.
Hero's parentage
Also, as someone who loves C&H this book is a little depressing seeing the horrible things that happen to Locke, but he always has his stuffed Panther, Spencer, to keep him grounded. It's nice to see Spencer is still his kid-friendly self even dealing with the graphic subject matter a Detective would see and helping Locke both as a child and an adult. I also love getting the dual perspective, where we see the reality of a situation, and Locke's reality if the same situation. Overall a fun (very dark) story and I love the originality in taking 2 titles that couldn't be more different and combining them to make something fresh.
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