'SEX, SUPERPOWERS AND SIX MONTHS TO LIVE!
'Verity: frustrated artist. Weasel: struggling guitarist. Monty: rogue media icon. Three people infected with the G+ virus, which grants them incredible powers – but will kill them in six months! Will they fade away – or go out in a blaze of glory? From the streets of London to the North Atlantic, from muses lost to futures thrown away – Death Sentence is the jaw-dropping next step in superpowered storytelling! Funny, fearless and frightening, this collection of the hit series is an unforgettable comics debut.
'More than any other series Death Sentence predicted the world we now live in, one of the reasons it was named Dreamcage Comic of the Decade (beating Umbrella Academy into second place). Work is underway to turn the comic into a major TV series, but nothing beats the magic of reading the original comics first.
'The adrenaline-fueled graphic novel is created by Monty Nero (writer and artist), and co-illustrators Martin Simmonds and Mike Dowling. Monty Nero – renowned for his sharp, socially-charged storytelling in works for Marvel, DC, and 2000 AD – spins this daring tale of superpowers entwined with mortality and satire. The visuals are a visceral feast: Mike Dowling’s gritty, no-holds-barred art, as seen in Unfollow and Judge Dredd, kicks off the series with a raw intensity. Martin Simmonds - celebrated for his haunting, surreal artwork The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV – elevates the narrative with cinematic flair and hallucinatory detail. This incredible collection sees all three graphic novels brought together for the first time in marvellous mayhem!'
Comics are often thought of as a fairly singular medium, with most people picturing super hero characters when they hear the phrase 'comics'; and whilst the super hero genre has certainly dominated the medium and given it much of its success and staying power, there's a lot more genres that comics explore that people are going to miss out on. I myself am very much a fan of super hero comics and have read thousands of them, and as such I sometimes fall into the trap of forgetting other genres and creators that aren't given the same limelight as the big two publishers and their properties. This is what happened for Death Sentence for me, where I simply missed it when the comics were first published. Thankfully, Titan Comics have collected together all eighteen issues of the series into one new hardcover volume that gives myself, and everyone else, the chance to discover this wonderfully fun and layered series.
The concept for Death Sentence is one that immediately grabs your attention, a world where a sexually transmitted virus, the G+ Virus, grants those who contract it super powers, but with the drawback that they then only have six months to live. Most people have likely considered what it would be like to get some kind of super power and what they'd do with it, whether than be flight, invisibility, shapeshifting, whatever comes to mind. It raises questions about what kind of nature it would bring out in people, whether they'd strive to do good and to help others, or if it would encourage some to give in to their worse desires. Having the caveat of knowing you'll be dead in less than a year certainly adds a wrinkle to those questions, because if you had so little time left why not just do whatever you want?
This is one of the main themes of Death Sentence, and the book doesn't shy away from shining a light on how terrible situations can lead people to do terrible things, can encourage them to put their own wants and desires first to either go out in a blaze of glory, or leave some grand mark on history. But the book isn't devoid of hope, as we meet several characters who ultimately strive to help others, even risking their own precious finite time to do so.
Death Sentence follows three main protagonists across its introductory arc, Verity is an artist who gave up on creating for herself and entered something of a rut in life, Weasel is a troubled musician whose career has been faltering since going solo, and Monty is a comedian who's made a career out of being offensive and insulting. The three of them have all recently learned that they've contracted the G+ Virus, and each of them is trying to figure out what their next step is. Weasel is trying to find inspiration and make an album that will have him remembered, Verity is falling apart, and Monty has decided that he will take whatever he wants.
As the three of them begin to develop special, and potentially dangerous powers, some of them will find themselves being taken in by a shady arm of the government, where they'll be taught to better harness their abilities whilst the virus is studied. However, Monty, who develops the ability to control and influence others, wants nothing but power, and sets out on a mission that will leave the city of London in flames, and a million people dead. With their home and loved ones threatened, Verity and Weasel will have to decide if they want to use their abilities for good.
Death Sentence is a story that grabs you pretty quickly, introducing you to its lead characters and showing how their lives change with the virus very early on. The book opens with Verity learning about her condition and the first issue follows her coming to terms with this; a fairly normal young woman whose entire life is coming to an end very quickly. Her internal struggle is a stark contrast to the male leads, both of whom almost seem to see their condition as an opportunity. Neither of them are really shamed for having the virus, neither of them lose their careers, neither of them stop having sex with adoring fans. I don't know if it was intentional on his part or not, but Montynero seems to have made a pretty important commentary on how society treats women's sexuality compared to men's.
Despite sex being an integral part of the story the book at least doesn't treat sex as something salacious, or something to be condemned. It would be easy to pain sex as a morally bad act in a story where it can result in people dying, and it could push the idea that the people who contract the virus are terrible people. There is some of this, as the book does focus on archetypes that aren't the best kinds of people, such as the drugged up rockstar, or the high profile comedian who forces themself on others, but there are also characters who are infected with the virus who are decent people. We get this more in the second and third arc of the book, particularly with the introduction of the character Roots, who has the ability to control plants. The sex in the series is both casual, and at times treated as shock factor, and it's hard to know exactly how you're supposed to come away from the book feeling about it, but the lack of negative moralising is at least decent.
The books treatment of super powers is also pretty interesting, and whilst each of the infected seem to have some fairly similar traits, such as enhanced endurance, creativity, and strength, each of them also has their own unique powers. For example, Verity is able to manipulate the light spectrum, a power set that she's able to use to vanish from sight, to create illusions, and change the way she looks. Whilst none of the powers shown in the book are new the create team deploys them in ways that feels new and interesting, putting fresh spins on things we've seen before.
One of the areas in which the book really shines is the art. Mike Dowling provides the art on issues 1 to 6, with Martin Simmonds doing the art for issues 7 to 15, and writer Montynero finishing out the books art on issues 16 to 18. Each of them have their own unique and distinct style, each of which feels like it thematically fits the story being told and the evolution of the narrative. Dowling's art is fairly traditional, and is a nice way to be introduced to this world. His art style has a grunginess to it that really shines when depicting the chaos in London, or the out of control Weasel. It can show off the normality of the world, yet also works well when things start to go wrong, depicting the chaos and destruction.
Simmonds, on the other hand has a more painted feel to it, with less hard lines, and design choices that feel more beautiful even in the most terrible moments. It works well during these sections of the book as it's the part of the story where we start to find hope again, where we meet more decent characters who want to do good things, where community begins to come together, and corruption is fought against. Simmonds does a fantastic job at lighting in his art, and there are moments where you can almost feel the brightness of the sunrise being depicted on the page in a way that the previous style couldn't have created. The final few pages of Simmonds art showcase this wonderfully, as we get one scene filled with beauty, nature, and a hope for a better tomorrow, whilst also getting a moment of horror that shows the duality in tone the story has.
Montynero's art is perhaps the most transitional of the three, and fits into the super hero style the most, which is fitting as these chapters feature a literal super hero team at one point. It's the part of the story that feels the most like a big two comic, with bold costumes, overt super heroics, and a conclusion that feels like it's waiting for the next chapter. Compared to the other parts of the book it perhaps feels the most visually jarring, but when taken into consideration with the tone that it feels the book is aiming for in these final few issues it does fit.
As alluded to in the pervious paragraph, Death Sentence does end feeling like there's more to come, and when marketed as The Complete Collection that does feel a little disappointing. This isn't a criticism against Titan for putting that on the cover, after all, in comics you do sometimes get those open endings where it feels like you're going to be waiting for something else that's not coming. Perhaps that's the case here, maybe Montynero has no plans to revisit this world, but maybe if sales of this collection are high enough and there's demand we might get more. Either way, Death Sentence: The Complete Collection makes for a fantastic read.
Death Sentence is subversive, disgusting, dark, and occasionally hopeful. It feels like a very British take on the American super hero genre that isn't trying to deconstruct or satirise, but simply do its own thing. The book is filled with adult themes and political commentary that gives it more depth than most books about people with amazing powers, and I think that people will be pleasantly surprised by just how much substance there is here to a story where the main pitch is super powered STD's.
Death Sentence: The Complete Collection is out now from Titan Comics.