New from We Comics is a female helmed book written by Mairghread Scott (Transformers Prime) with art by Candace Ellis(Womanthology). In the pursuit of creating a character for chicks of all ages to enjoy, publisher Jason Enright gives us Cassie Jurich. In the opening panels of Triage we meet our heroine working as an EMT with a playful partner and a sense of humor that is tickled by messing with hurt kids (in a cute way, I promise).
Ellis’ sparse artwork really sets the tone for the latter half of the issue in which Cassie gets creamed by speeding car. The black and white coloring is invaded by some bright-red Cassie-blood, making the touches of violence much more striking. At first, I’ll admit that I felt cheated by the more simple artwork, but after the blood-injection I definately enjoyed the grittiness.
After Cassie’s injuries are pronounced terminal…well obviously they aren’t or it would be one short comic. After three days, she’s barely left with a scratch and awakens to a mysterious stranger holding a gun to her head. The scene, with the would be assassin called off by a unknown boss’ last minute phone call, is so very Kill Bill that I almost wanted to call shenanigans. Anyway, the killer leaves Cassie with no explanation of her healing factor or why she almost got her check cashed. Only slightly perturbed by the events of the last few days, she immerses herself in work. The final few pages leave us on a cliffhanger as Cassie runs to help a lady gunshot victim who may have the answer key to our missing plot (let’s be honest, she probably will).
While I grew to enjoy the artwork rather quickly and more and more as I turned the pages, I have legitimate concerns about the originality of this comic. Is she a sleeper agent? Mutant? Future star of The Bourne Vagina Reboot movie? I hope Scott has come up with something more than a few twists and turns on a common thriller because I’m really intrigued by this heroine and female-teamed title. And not just because the promotional images made me smile (below). Check out Triage at wecomics.com