Florida-based comic book writer Travis Vengroff has spent the last seven years building an entire universe around his comic, Liberty.  He and a group of artists have been hard at work trying to get their comic published and have a Kick Starter campaign set up so they can publish the first volume in the story, entitled Liberty: Deception.  Such great detail went into creating this universe, from the language (and an entire alphabet), to how long a day lasts.  The story itself is a futuristic, sci-fi romp with a large cast of characters, with no one character taking the role of  main protagonist, but rather, different groups of characters with their own story to tell.

Issue Zero features the Conway family; Gust, Will, Liv, and Claw engaging in a gunfight when a gun trade Claw set up goes south. The writing is decent. The way characters and settings are designed make you interested enough to want to learn more.  The comic is very short at nine pages, so the only character we get to learn much about is Claw.

The art is decent, as it does what a comic book artist should do: tell the story.  It may not be your cup of tea, but it works for this story.  Based on the credits, artist Casey Bailey did the penciling, inking, AND the coloring himself which is an impressive task.  I really love the color palette as it sets up a moody atmosphere without being monochromatic.

 

Issue One, also written by Vengroff, is much longer story at 39 pages. It spends a lot more time introducing us to Tertulius Justus, who is described as, a “hero of the people”. Unfortunately, the way his story is told makes it a bit confusing as to what his role is.  The majority of the comic is told through a flashback (and there’s even a flashback in a flashback), which makes it hard to determine where we are story-wise.   He’s either a combat medic/action hero (or he plays one on TV?) and then is fired.  Then he’s a fugitive?  But someone tries shooting him and sends him to prison?  Is this being told backwards?  Is this a Christopher Nolan film? The page just leaves me confused and it ends on a whimper, which from a reader’s standpoint, is on odd way to end a first issue.

This time the art is handled by Raymond Bermudez and Team. It is much cleaner and more to my personal tastes.  The only criticism I have on the art is lack of emotional facial expression on the characters.  That small gripe aside, the penciling and inking is so polished I almost wish the art was in black and white.  The color palette, this time credited to Joana Lafuente, has much more cooler tones than Issue Zero, and while not as vibrant, it still gets the job done.

While not my cup of tea, the comic was enjoyable and I could see where others could get into it. After all, I’m one of the few who didn’t like Lord of the Rings. I know, I’m weird.