Voodoo Curse 1. Kim Roberts (Writer), Rienaldo Lay (Art), Chris Allen (Colours & Letters). Swampline Comics (October 2017)

A very enjoyable and engaging horror crime comic that solves the problem of a first issue with confident skill. After a robbery gets messy,Jake Jones is murdered by his companion. This is a problem for his wife, Jake has gambling debts and his employer, who wants what was stolen. So a solution is found, bring Jake back to life via voodoo.
Kim Roberts manages to get the story to the most important point with confident skill, great pacing and lashings of gore. The cast are all suitably angry and nasty, they are all willing to do what they have to to secure their aims. There is a nice layer of betrayal stitched into the fabric of the story from the start that means that the unfolding story has great possibilities.
Rienaldo Lay's art is a joy, the cast are all strongly realised with eloquent body language and they move naturally through their context. The action is loud and splattery, the art catches the dark nuances of the story perfectly and brings them out very nicely. There is no hesitation in the art, it is a flat out as the story requires, the thread of brutal desperation that runs though the story is never overstated.
Chris Allen's colours are great, they give the art depth and reach, allowing for the horror action to strongly pop. The colours are used as special effects and they carry the work with ease, they give the action a increased force that is needed to polish the edge of the story.
This is a first issue that firmly sets up the cast and story and creates a very happy anticipation for the reader of where it will travel to.