REVIEW: Old Haunts #1

Rating if the Book Were a Movie: R

Creative Team:

Writer: Ollie Masters and Rob Williams
Artist: Laurence Campbell 
Colors: Lee Loughridge 
Letters: Sal Cipriano 
Cover: Laurence Campbell 
Publisher: AWA Studios/Upshot Studios 

Ratings:

Artwork: .5 Stars (I found the artwork to be as if it’s something in a dream. There are points where it’s very detailed and vivid. The vulture was really cool. Unfortunately the majority of the book is characters that are lacking most distinguishing features

Story: .75 Stars (While it doesn’t blow you away out of the starting gate I can definitely see some promise in it as it builds up speed.)

Dialogue: .5 Stars (We get some information from the dialogue and the dialogue does move the story along. I found that the dialogue seemed to create as many questions as it answered.)

Mechanics: .5 Stars (“Old Haunts” moves along at a steady tempo. I didn’t feel any sense of urgency in the plot or a connection with any of the characters.)

Editing: .75 Stars (I didn’t see any grammatical errors. The lettering is well done. An editor’s note or two would have been helpful because it wasn’t very clear where the story takes place.)

About the Book:

Alex, Donny, and Primo are mobsters that have had a really good run. After over twenty years they’re doing something that doesn’t happen in their line of work: retiring. Before they can truly walk away they’re going to have to face some of their demons though.

Reviewer’s Notes:

My friend Nicole does online auctions for comic books. She doesn’t necessarily list a lot of “keys” but she has a great selection of reader copies that usually range from .75 cents to a couple bucks a book. As a geek on a budget it’s a great way to branch out and learn about titles without breaking the bank.

“Old Haunts” isn’t the first title I’ve seen from AWA/Upshot. I loved “Resistance”. “Hotell” was an interesting read. Mind you a variety of titles can fall under the same publisher’s umbrella. 

To me “Old Haunts” feels like it’s trying too hard. Because of that it leaves a lot on the table. I like mobster stories. I can appreciate a well written horror story. This one fell in between. 

It doesn’t have the character development one would expect from a mobster story. It also doesn’t focus on the attributes one would expect in a horror story. There weren’t a lot of tense moments.

At a dollar I found the story to be intriguing. At full cover price I probably would have been disappointed. I’ll be following this series as I come across the rest of it in my expeditions for buck box treasures. At cover price it’s a hard pass for me.