Levels #1

Desert Whale Comics already impressed with their first title The Plight and after seeing the cover for their newest title Levels I had high hopes for it.

It’s a tale of a disgruntled employee Maxwell Dutch acting out his cruel and relentless revenge against the company that spurned him and were dropped right into the thick of it as he leaves his desk for the last time.  Everything seems so amicable but that’s quickly turned on it’s head with a plot to steal as much data from the company as he can and cause an epic disruption with the help of the unsuspecting Betty who is being duped into an even bigger corporate attack than she can imagine.

While that plot brings chaos to the entire office block of employees it’s up to mild-mannered window cleaner Frankie Barrett to save the day…..or at least survive long enough to try and save the day.  It’s here that the shit hits the fan with murder and crazed but lucid zombie-like people throughout the building turning on each other with some fairly brutal outcomes.  It blends a mix of Die Hard & The Walking Dead together as Frankie fights for survival and Maxwell fights to add more carnage to his plans but thankfully it’s got an entirely fresh feel to it.

That’s mainly thanks to the solid writing from Richard Allan & Greg Liddle who create a mundane world but flip it on it’s head with a slick plot and two cracking lead characters who I hope will face-off at some point.  The black & white art from Karl Engracia is probably some of the most highly detailed work I’ve seen in an indie comic in a while and it with the added splash of red here & there during some of the more gruesome scenes it really adds an extra piece of detail to emphasis the quality.  Toben Tacicot’s lettering is key too as there are some pages with lots of dialogue or narrative and it never intrudes or gets in the way and that cover from Nathan Allison is the final piece of a very impressive jigsaw of creativity.  Another amazing horror title from the indie world that proves that I’ve been a horror fan without really knowing it and here’s hoping we get to see more of Levels soon.

You can pick up a copy of this and The Plight over on the ComicHaus website now and at the Dunfermline Comic Con this weekend (11th March) – as well as other shows over the year.  You can also keep up to date with what’s next for the team through their Podcast, Facebook & Twitter pages.

9/10

G-Man