E.P.I.C. stands for Earth's Protector in Crisis. E.P.I.C. comes from the indy company Dark City Comics who also publish Alloy and Torque. Dark City Comics can be viewed in the same vein as Milestone Comics. They want to transfer the diversity of the real world into the world of comic books while still telling awesome stories. There's no need for 90% of the protagonist to be straight white males with a little stubble on their faces.
E.P.I.C. itself actually follows the story of Chris Tayborne. Chris is a blerd archaeology student. During a trip to Egypt Chris is wrapped up in a series of events that lead to his professor dying, a pyramid being destroyed and Chris coming into possession of The Alpha Band. Chris is given access to a lot of powers, some I'm not fully clear on, but to be fair, neither is he. The main one being access to a Shazam like transformation that turns Chris from a scrawny guy into someone who could be a professional weight lifter. Admittedly the transformation is a lot cooler than Shazam's but I'll touch on that a little later.
This alpha Band also activates metahumans across the globe. All of a sudden people across the globe wake up with new abilities that are unheard of. Some like Alloy who can turn their bodies into metal. Others with super strength or speed. I'm just glad nobody got the stereotypical "give the black people electric based powers."
A voice through the band also speaks to Chris and somewhat controls him. This voice tells him that he is the new protector of Earth. Chris doesn't have much say in the matter because it's clear the voice can take control whenever he feels like it. At the same time other like alloy are committing themselves to justice, while others attempt to capitalize on their new abilities for all of the wrong reasons. The art style for E.P.I.C. is unique if nothing else. I can't decide if I like it or not. In dark scenes it can sometimes looked washed out but, it really pops in scenes with a lot of light. Most things lack detail, but the things that are detailed draw your attention to the important parts of the scene.
The speech bubble can be a little awkward at times but nothing majorly distracting. It can provide some awesome scenes such as Alloy stopping a truck, or Chris using his powers for the first time. It's also great for showing motion but at times it can be so dark that it looks like the action is taking place in an abyss. It's a unique style that takes some getting used to it.
My biggest problem was that some of the dialect could be a little cheesy. When characters speak sometimes it seems like it's right out of an early Bond Movie. As much as we liked those films it doesn't change the fact that a lot of the dialogue was pretty bad in some situations. "Don't worry professor I won't let it," "You're not worth of such power," and "It's time to reclaim my birthright," are phrases that have been uttered so much in various media they've lost a lot of their luster. If anything it may be somewhat more dated than cheesy. Chris is an interesting protagonist. He doesn't seem to be interested in saving the world, but he kind of has to. He'd be content going home and chilling out but now he's got an Alpha Band telling him it's his job to protect the world. His powers seem to be Shazam like, turning him from a scrawny guy into a guy who could be a weight lifter. But, it interest me more than Shazam. With Shazam, Billy never seems to get the hang of using an adult body. This is an annoying trope that's thankfully avoided in E.P.I.C.
I'm certainly interested in where the story goes. Glimpses of a Justice League or Avengers sort of team without a token black guy is shown so I'm interested in that. I'm also interested to see how Chris handles greatness being forced upon him. Does he handle it in a Peter Parker "With great power comes great responsibility" way or does he handle it in a Miles Morales "Yeah, I've got the power, but I don't want to do this and I can stop any time," way. It'll be interesting to see.
It's only $1.99 per issue so there's really no reason not to check it out
If you're interested in checking out more of E.P.I.C. you can head over to www.darkcitycomics.com
or http://darkcitycomics.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Follow @OriginalKingD
This alpha Band also activates metahumans across the globe. All of a sudden people across the globe wake up with new abilities that are unheard of. Some like Alloy who can turn their bodies into metal. Others with super strength or speed. I'm just glad nobody got the stereotypical "give the black people electric based powers."
A voice through the band also speaks to Chris and somewhat controls him. This voice tells him that he is the new protector of Earth. Chris doesn't have much say in the matter because it's clear the voice can take control whenever he feels like it. At the same time other like alloy are committing themselves to justice, while others attempt to capitalize on their new abilities for all of the wrong reasons. The art style for E.P.I.C. is unique if nothing else. I can't decide if I like it or not. In dark scenes it can sometimes looked washed out but, it really pops in scenes with a lot of light. Most things lack detail, but the things that are detailed draw your attention to the important parts of the scene.
The speech bubble can be a little awkward at times but nothing majorly distracting. It can provide some awesome scenes such as Alloy stopping a truck, or Chris using his powers for the first time. It's also great for showing motion but at times it can be so dark that it looks like the action is taking place in an abyss. It's a unique style that takes some getting used to it.
I'm certainly interested in where the story goes. Glimpses of a Justice League or Avengers sort of team without a token black guy is shown so I'm interested in that. I'm also interested to see how Chris handles greatness being forced upon him. Does he handle it in a Peter Parker "With great power comes great responsibility" way or does he handle it in a Miles Morales "Yeah, I've got the power, but I don't want to do this and I can stop any time," way. It'll be interesting to see.
It's only $1.99 per issue so there's really no reason not to check it out
If you're interested in checking out more of E.P.I.C. you can head over to www.darkcitycomics.com
or http://darkcitycomics.
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Follow @OriginalKingD
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Comic Books
I am definitely going to read this
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