Review: Black Mask Studios’ Mayday #1

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3513ec3a-c5ed-41d0-a4d6-cfa261ab1e93Mayday #1 managed to sell out before it even hit shelves. With the announcement that Imperative Entertainment has plans to develop the comic for TV, and with issue #2 right around the corner, curiosity has gotten the better of me and I’m glad I peeked.  At first glance, Mayday isn’t the kind of comic I personally go after. I admit I enjoy powers and/or monsters and I didn’t take this for a comic that had either. I’ve been pleasantly surprised before and this was no exception. There was enough action and mystery to keep me engaged and now I’m curious about our lead characters.

Issue #1 establishes our characters in the worst case of “wrong place wrong time” that could possibly happen to them. One is a bordering ­on washed ­up director, the other a transgender bartender. The story is set in LA where they find themselves party to multiple murders. There’s something weird going on that connects everything, and my guess is these characters are going to stumble onto something big whether they want to or not. It was enough to get me curious, and ready for the next issue.

I’m especially interested in the diversity of the cast. With only two main characters that I can make out, we have a white guy and a transgender person of color. She(?) looks like a typical LA chick to me so I’m not sure how the comic will get her gender across without making it feel inorganic. I have faith in Curt Pires, because already both characters have a lot of personality and nothing was shoved down my throat about either one.

There does, however, seem to be an undertone of distaste for white folk which was a bit uncomfortable. It opens calling the Academy Awards “white people art awards” which, ok, fair enough it probably is ­ but in the background there are billboards with nothing but “white privilege” written on them. While I read this all as commentary on Hollywood in general, it’s a very outdated view that is suddenly rather “hip” these days and I can’t tell if this is an attempt to push that view or poke fun at it. Either way it hasn’t deterred me from wanting to get my hands on the next issue.

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