Image’s new comic, Alpha King, continues to foster a bridge between the comic and the beer world. Typically the two worlds become connected when breweries hire a comic artist to design images on their bottles. The latest company to continue this practice is 3 Floyds brewing company. Now rather than having an artist design their bottle they have chosen to create a comic called Alpha Kings, written by Brian Azzarello and Nick Floyd with art by Simon Bisley. Alpha King focuses on a human who is transformed into a demon as he is looking for his girlfriend.
The good:
Without a doubt Alpha King is a different comic then what is currently out there. The comic takes the classic idea of people gaining powers by falling into a vat of chemicals and twists it. This happens to the main character as he is brewing beer and a group of demons throw him into a beer vat. As a result he is transformed into the demon Alpha King. The comic in many ways is making fun of other comics and showing how ridiculous the idea of anybody gaining powers by being exposed to a substance. Furthermore, in introducing the idea that beer is the catalyst for the transformation the comic makes it clear that this is not a serious comic and should be read as such. The comic introduces the idea that the physical transformation of the character was not the only transformation that occurred. This is evident in the fact that Alpha King is seeing what the world is truly like as demons are all fighting each other to gain food and other items. This concept is interesting as it plays with the reader’s head and captures the idea that not everything is as it seems. Furthermore, this concept also suggests that we make and interpret our own realities and sometimes an outside force is need to adjust and bring people back into a normal reality.
The bad:
Now despite the innovative ideas the comic sets forth the story makes no sense. In particular the story is hard to follow as in the initial pages the comic sets forth events that contradict what occurs next. This leads to confusion as it makes it hard to understand what has happened and in what order it has occurred or if the events that have occurred are happening to two different characters. Thus the comic makes it ambiguous as to what is happening. Furthermore, the comic lacks any explanation as to why any of the events are occurring ranging from the human transforming into Alpha King to why his perception of the world has changed from seeing humans to demon. As a result, this makes the comic seem poorly executed as there are only idea in this comic that are poorly executed and left unexplained.
The Verdict:
This is a rough comic to read although the ideas presented in it are great. The ideas challenge the notion of our reality along with making fun of the normal comic power gain motif. Yet the story and the ideas are poorly executed and do not deliver as they provide no explanation to why anything is taking place. I would stay away from this comic as it misses the mark by so much and is a painful read due to poor story planning.
