Lucifer Licorice is the newest title published under Unlikely Heroes Studios’s new imprint Too with a coming Kickstarter. This comedic all-ages comic has a lot of whimsy in conjunction with a character arc. Or at least it potentially will.
Lucifer Licorice Synopsis
From the press material:
Lucifer Licorice is about a spoiled brat prince who is turned into a licorice monster by a candy witch and must learn to stop being so bitter to break the curse.
Slow Burn In Plot
Now that we have the series backbone, let’s go over the first issue. Instead of the premise, Russell Nohelty focuses on setting the series’ tone with artist Angela Oddling. Readers experience some great dry humor and nonsensical situations.
Let’s look at a funny introduction to our lead characters:
Then it changes into a black comedy with passionate energy radiating from a bunch of side characters.
These are all good ways to get reader’s attention, but not so much in investment of the main premise. Because unless they look at the press material, readers don’t know what Lucifer’s deal is or the fact that he’s a prince. This first issue practically opens on someone else’s story, one that Lucifer wandered into. Overall, this is written more like a children’s novel broken up into smaller pieces than a comic book.
Art Makes Up Lucifer Licorice
Oddling’s art is the main selling point of this comic. The highly expressive faces and visuals give an emotional weight throughout the issue. It gives the impression that something big is ready to come up. Like when Licorice and the ghost Moober get distasteful looks from background characters. There’s a growing frustration building up that eventually erupts into an angry mob.
That’s all in juxtaposition with the color contrast. Licorice and Moober look out of place in the town unlike the forest that share their colors. As does their helper Molly whose bright yellow coloration keeps the audiences attention. When the angry mob riles up, Molly’s brightness looks like its blending in as the mob becomes too loud to listen to her.
Lucifer Licorice Can Grow
Lucifer Licorice has some really great visual storytelling for kids who would be more than excited to see what happens next. Because it feels like there’s a story missing amid all of the excitement. Overall this gets 7.5/10.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.
