Reviews»Comic Books»Veil #1
veil
Kareem Ali 4

Veil #1

 

  • The good

    Intriguing character and story sets up an interesting dynamic going forward. Nice display of her powers

  • The bad

    Her first interaction with the world consisted of an overused situation and took away from the unique start

  • The ugly

  • Veil #1 is a new series written by Greg Rucka and published by Dark Horse about a young woman who wakes up naked in an abandoned subway station with no recollection of recent events or her own identity. It’s not clear why she was lying on the platform of a locked station but the fact that her body ends up being surrounded by rats before waking up doesn’t explain her predicament or why she can only repeat words with very minimal understanding. But she does have remarkable strength as she  bends the bars of the subway station gate in order to leave, and also has some type of effect on the rats as they seemingly become possessed as she leaves. But of course things only become more complicated for her because she ends up naked on a crowded street attracting attention from everyone including some very unsavory types. One in particular does more than just gawk at her as he approaches her and tries to take advantage of her confusion. And when she doesn’t budge and walk with him he gets angry at her repeating his every word but is interrupted by one of his friends who sees there’s something very wrong with her. And he’s genuinely concerned and offers his help and when he asks for her name all she knows is one word: Veil.

    veil1p3

    The first couple of pages were without words but the panels were interesting as I tried to decipher whether or not they held any secrets regarding the young woman who would soon wake up. So the artwork by Toni Fejzula establishes the tone nicely and the panels are gripping as there’s almost a hypnotic feel to them. Veil’s confusion was apparent with her speech but the story suggests this might all actually be new to her, especially when she gets above ground in the crowded city attracting attention with her nakedness and strange behavior. I was becoming engrossed in this issue until one of the biggest clichés came into play and that was when she was approached by the guy in the group who wanted to rape her. And I’m not implying in any way that’s not a serious issue in real life but in terms of storytelling it’s uncreative at this point for a first issue with a female character to have this right before the first use of her powers. Granted she walked into the middle of a district filled with sex shops but I was relieved to see that at least one person decided to make sure she was ok and give her clothing. This added a refreshing angle to the story and provided a better means for some character development considering she could only repeat others and then make a rhyme out of it. So it was interesting how Greg Rucka was still able to create a connection between Veil and Dante, the one who helped her, and make it clear there was some mutual interest despite her lack of verbal communication. And things became even interesting when her abilities are put on display in a graphic sequence as it’s confirmed there are things she clearly understands. This makes her capabilities and origin more intriguing, as well as the potential for an even stronger connection between her and Dante going forward as they’re now in it together. And so am I because this issue sets up what could be a very fascinating series story and character wise.

     

    SUMMARY

    Veil #1 is a solid first issue that sets up a very interesting story line and character dynamic that should be very rewarding for readers going forward. Despite almost falling completely into a cliché for Veil’s first interaction with the world it redeems itself through the connection she actually makes with another character while allowing her to demonstrate a little of her capabilities in an impressive fashion. And in doing so makes her unknown origin just as intriguing as what lies ahead for the duo.

    Release Date: 3/5/14

    Writer: Greg Rucka

    Artist: Toni Fejzula

  • Rating ( 8 )
  • Total score 8.0

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: