Spare Parts #0

Spare Parts #0

Behemoth Entertainment 2021

By Nicolas Brando

Lettered by Luciana Dolfi

Based on the Raven Banner and RLJE movie, Spare Parts features a group of women that get lost on a random dirt road. A tow truck driver arrives and tows them to his junkyard. Everything seems normal until they wake up with weapons for limbs, and thrown into the fight of their lives.

Gindhouse is a subgenre if I’m not mistaken right? When you look at it it’s that blend of science fiction and horror that on paper shouldn’t work but is rather enjoyable nonetheless. This one has some teeth to it which I know I shouldn’t be surprised by but it is a pleasant realisation. It is kind of refreshing to see an all girl punk rock band taking the stage of dive bar and getting into a bar fight the way that they do. Of course it’s this course of action that could potentially attract the wrong kind of attention, aw who am I kidding it does attract the wrong kind of attention and it’s what gets the girls into their current predicament. What we see is a cross between Grindhouse, punk rock, a demolition derby and all with the “we who are about to die salute you”, that’s Cassuius Dio folks originally it was Ave Imperator, morituri te alsutante, thrown into the blender.

I really like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter help to really flesh out who these characters are as people. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story, the twists & turns it creates this crazy kind of frantic chaotic energy.

I appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow. The layers contain the characterisation and the avenues we see opening up and while not all are explored they all create this extra depth and complexity for the story. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

I’m pretty damn impressed with the interiors here. The linework is exceptional and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is phenomenal stuff. That backgrounds are utilised throughout the way that they are is fabulous and that they work within the composition of the panels to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellously rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. I love the creativity and imagination that we see as well. How the bones and the anatomy are rendered shows a class or at least a knowledge of the way it should look and I for one appreciate that extra mile. The colour work we see is pretty amazing as well. How the various hues and tones within the colours are being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work are rendered shows a marvellous eye for how colour works and maximise the affects its capable of.

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If you haven’t been reading the books Behemoth offers than you’ve not been paying attention to what I’m saying about them. This is fantastic! It has a sharp biting wit to the writing with solid characterisation and dynamic interiors that are well worthy of your attention. That Nicolas does all this himself is noteworthy as well, anyone with the talent and skill, not to mention the chutzpah to pull this off at such a high quality is deserving of my respect and admiration.