Death Sentence @ Amazon
Imagine being told that you’re rapidly developing superpowers but that the process will kill you in about six months. How would you live?
That’s the premise to Monty Nero and Mike Dowling’s Death Sentence. In Nero’s world the G+ Virus (nothing to do with Google Plus) is a fact of life. It’s a sexually transmitted disease and public health campaigns urge people to be careful.
Those inflicted with the G+ Virus experience a surge of abilities; boosted creativity, better reflexes and strength and an increased sex drive. These performance boosts eventually kill them. There is no cure.
In Death Sentence we follow three people who’ve contacted G+. There’s a rockstar on his way down called Weasel, a graphic designer called Verity and a media star called Monty. There’s something of a Russell Brand to Monty, by the way. The other twist in the story of these three; they don’t just have the G+ Virus, they have it at a scale the government doesn’t admit exists.
Death Sentence is full of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. It’s less explicit than HBO’s Game of Thrones but there’s plenty of boobs, swearing and bloody gore. Heads go pop.
Dowling seems to be the perfect artistic partner to Monty Nero’s alternative superhero story. The illustrations are bold, powerful and in your face. They feel familiar and yet there’s something about them that seems a little different.
“Familiar but different” is a candidate tag-line for Death Sentence. I’ve read lots of superhero graphic novels. The superhero / superpower aspect of Death Sentence is familiar. Yet… there’s something different about these so-called heroes, the choices they make and even how they are portrayed.
There’s a trailer to Death Sentence that was published to YouTube last year. It’s worth a watch. Failing that this G+ AutoAwesome video (and this time I do mean Google Plus) video tour might work for you. Just keep in mind that this video applies a colour filter effect so you’re not seeing the true tones of the graphic novel.
I really enjoyed Death Sentence. I read it in a single sitting over two glasses of brandy. All the characters are good – even the bad ones. The action is intense, unreliable and yet horribly realistic. There’s so much life in death.
This is a graphic novel full of contradictions and that makes it awesome.
My copy of Death Sentence was provided for review. Titan Comics, Monty Nero & Mike Dowling and with a RRP of around £15.
