Switchlbade Honey

Switchblade Honey

Publisher: AiT/Planet Lar

Story: Warren Ellis

Art: Brandon McKinney

Rated: M/Mature

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Price: $9.95

Switchblade Honey began as a joke between Warren Ellis and his girlfriend. What if a starship was captained by Ray Winstone? From there the story takes off, a cast of navy outcasts get a ship and a mission and there off into space.

The story is short and to the point. Battles are waged and disasters averted. Warren Ellis keeps the story moving forward with crude dialogue, with lots of drinking and smoking intermingled. Aside from one character that is pretty straigh-laced the rest of the crew are troublemakers with morals. This has the unfortunate side effect of making one much like the others. Brandon McKinney's art is crisp and clean, and while quite nice to look at, I don't feel like it serves the story as well as a grittier style might have.

While trying to distance itself from mainstream science fiction through the original premise the clear-cut morality of most of the characters sabotages the attempt. The clean lines and clear images make everything look like the science fiction we're all familiar with, which was not the stated purpose.

Conclusion: The stated intent of the story is betrayed by the lack of differentiation between the characters and the clarity of the artwork. It's still an interesting premise that I'd be excited to see continued. I'm just not sure that this an introduction that makes that a possibility.

Rating: 6/10