The Benevolent #1

The Benevolent #1
Art and story by Rodney Richardson

So, every time new books are released through Comixology Submit, John Roberts, the director of that program, gives a shout out to all the new creators on Twitter. I discovered this the day our book was released on Comixology (available now!) and went back through some of his previous tweets to check out other creators. One guy in particular caught my attention, Rodney Richardson, and I started following him on Twitter and Instagram. After seeing several updates for his upcoming issues, I decided to give his book, the Benevolent, a chance.

Abelinda is being haunted by her grandmother's spirit, manifesting through her dreams. As she tries to decipher the meaning behind these cryptic messages she meets two strange men. The first, Anubian, seems to be trying to protect her, though his motives are unclear. The second is a serial killer, the Urban Animal, stalking the streets of the California town in which she lives. How are these seemingly unrelated events connected? Read the Benevolent to find out.

Much of the story is narrated to us by Abelinda and in the beginning I felt like her exposition was a little heavy. However, as the story progresses the author finds the character's voice. By the end of the book, Abelinda is playing her thoughts a closer to the chest, I found myself looking more out of the narration and and happy author wasn't giving it to me; some things should be left for us to interpret or to wonder about. The thing that sets indie comics apart from the main stream is the willingness for the creators to take chances. Richardson's confrontation between Abelinda and the Urban Animal risked coming off as cliche, but his execution was anything but. For $0.99 the book is worth checking out for that scene alone.

Regarding composition, Richardson keeps things fresh by changing up his layouts on each page and does a good job of keeping the structure playful without interrupting the flow of the story. Most pages run eight to ten panels, so there's a lot of story packed into twenty-four pages. It's a smooth read.

The only complaint I can truly find with the book is that I felt the coloring detracted from Richardson's artwork. However, seeing the preview images for upcoming issues it looks as though this problem has been resolved. To be honest I can make that same comment on a lot of industry professionals.

Witches, hauntings, and serial killers are all familiar territory in the world of comics, what makes the Benevolent unique are not the elements Richardson chose for his story, but the way in which he utilizes them. There is thought behind the decisions made and he teases us with just enough information to keep us reading, as any good storyteller should.