Review by Frank Plowright

Antwone Barnes opens Darkest Rout with a clever prologue set in a police precinct with the forensic department reviewing a mystifying murder. Barnes plays the scene out like dozens you’ve seen on TV police procedurals, identifying the department maverick as he does so. The surprise drops a couple of pages later and spells out why Darkest Rout isn’t just your common police mystery.

The opening section is just the teaser before Nate is introduced. He’s established as kindly, and prone to arriving late at the removal firm where he works, but would prefer to be an artist. In what turns out to be Nate’s final removal job, his life completely changes.

In his introduction Barnes credits Kip Henderson with being an incredible support and teaching him so much about creating comics. It would have been Henderson’s art generating the publication funds via a Kickstarter campaign, and he has an instantly appealing cartoon style with storytelling clarity a priority, and a good idea of what also makes for an atmospheric page of comics. You’ll be surprised you’ve not seen his name attached to more graphic novels. Omar Montoya draws a few pages that are more stylised than Henderson’s work, but only slightly so, and still strong on character and storytelling.

Darkest Rout attaches mystical undertones to a world otherwise recognisable as the one we live in, so straddling the borderline between supernatural fantasy and outright horror. Barnes supplies naturalistic characters and some witty dialogue, a gruesome threat and throws in enough hints of an engaging bigger picture to ensure you’ll want more. This is only a spirited introduction, but strong enough to continue.

This isn’t available via online booksellers, but via Barnes’ own site here.