Blackacre #1
Written by Duffy Boudreau
Art by Wendell Cavalcanti
Cover by Michael Avon Oeming
Image Comics
Release Date: December 5th, 2012
Price: $2.99

Blackacre #1 from Image Comics is best described as a futuristic version of Apocalypse Now, and takes the apocalypse part of the title to heart. The first issue establishes the background of the titular Blackacre community, a town of the future established by a group of wealthy individuals just as the rest of society was crumbling around them. Most of the issue is spent on world building and introducing the reader to a certain Captain Hull, who by issues end is sent into the wild to find a rogue former agent of Blackacre.

Like I said, most of the issue is spent showing the reader what the nature of the world is and also who Hull is. There’s a little bit of action, but it’s more about the world building. Which is good and all, but I wonder if a bit of the world building could have been skipped or shortened. All the talking slows down the issue by a great deal and makes this a bit of a chore to read. On the other hand, some of this world building is needed, and I like a fantasy/sci-fi world that is well researched. There just needs to be more balance in the second issue.

The art by Wendell Cavalcanti is decent, but nothing to really write home about. A lot of that is just because of the nature of the script which has a lot of scenes of people standing around talking. Cavalcanti does his best with those scenes and what action there is in the script is well drawn. I wish that a bit more effort had been put in making the futuristic world look more futuristic. Everyone is wearing modern suits and all the military gear looks like it was made today rather than the hundred years in the future that the series is set in. There’s nothing in the design to set the series apart from any other book.

All in all, Blackacre #1 was an okay book, but I wouldn’t recommend it based on the first issue. It may end up improving over the next few issues as the creators move past laying the foundation of the setting and getting into the actual meat of the story. What that means is I’m giving this issue a 2 out of 5, and a hope that the next issue gets better.