The Forged #1

Rucka, Trautmann, and Henderson have my undivided attention and normally a comic cover like this absolutely would NOT. In fact, under any other circumstances I would avoid something like this – a bunch of men drawing scantily clad marine women with their clothes getting torn to shreds and showing side boob … just writing that makes me eye roll hard enough to cause a migraine.

HOWEVER … I am familiar with the work and writing of Greg Rucka and I do deeply appreciate how he writes female characters. I am also somewhat familiar with the work of Eric Trautmann. Mike Henderson is a name that stands out because I an unable to forget the incredible experience I had with Nailbiter. All three of these names are names that I recognize on sight and I associate them with work I have experienced and enjoyed before.

I have memory issues. Thanks to PTSD I don’t retain a lot and my short-term/working memory isn’t great. When I read things they tend to move out of my mind quickly unless something there is significant enough for me to hold onto it. When it comes to any kind of media there has to be something that moves me, strikes me, or gets inside of me and just nestles there, or else it just evaporates like it never existed … a one-shot; a fleeting moment that wasn’t powerful enough to leave an impression.

When I remember someones name and can instantly associate it with something that have done, that means it really left a strong impression.

When I saw all three of these names, it was kind of a no-brainer that I was going to try it.

And sweet tap dancing Jesus, am I glad I did.

As I mentioned, I’m familiar with Mike Henderson’s art on a couple of comics, but I remember his name from Nailbiter specifically.

The Forged is a VERY different kind of comic of course and I just really love this style. It reminds me so, so much of Simone Di Meo’s EPIC AF art in They Only Find Them When They’re Dead. I would see some of those pages in my dreams and after I finished issue 1 of The Forged, I really kept seeing panels and sequences well into the next day. I adore the colors and feel of the panels featuring the Cassandra.

I could … FEEL the space, the textures … I could HEAR the space as well in the the colors chosen to represent the chamber and SpaceTime she floated through and the effect she had on people. As an aphant and a synesthete I really notice when non-tactile media evokes a sensory tactility in my body or makes me shift a bit in my own space while I’m experiencing it. Add to that the cinematic aspect made possible by the Guided Reading mechanic and I can really be transported away into something that feels like it has motion, sound, and even texture.

I’ve mentioned before that I am still a newbie when it comes to comics.

The first digital comic I purchased and read was Michael Alan Nelson’s Hexed. I purchased it in June of 2015 and, thanks to Guided Reading, it was the first time in my whole life I was able to fully comprehend, enjoy, and finish a comic book. I started buying so many comics at that point … trying different things and hoping to have the same kind of experience I had with Hexed which ticked every single box I could imagine a great experience could tick. I didn’t enjoy all the comics I bought back then … they didn’t all appeal to me, most of them didn’t. I did read somethings that I liked but … there wasn’t anything that really took me IN and made me FEEL like all my boxes were sufficiently ticked until a few years later.

There are some comics that feel like they were WAITING for me to read them … and then other comics that are great experiences in the moment but don’t linger. There are some comics that I feel truly changed me in a way that is impossible to describe … and then others that tore something out of me, threw it onto the floor, and set it on fire right before my eyes. There are some comics that make me so sick, so uncomfortable, so disgusted and brought out so much trauma … and then others that didn’t even register in my mind. Some comics gave me nightmares. Some comics inspired me. Some comics turned me on. Some comics made me vomit. Some did all those things at the same time.

I am still learning and still discovering what I want to FEEL and what I want to EXPERIENCE when it comes to comics and graphic novels. I’m still feeling my way around and learning about the writers and artists who create them.

The Forged APPEALS to me.

I laughed. I was intrigued. I was titillated. I was shocked. I was on the edge of my gaming chair …

By the end of issue 1 I was immediately heading to Comixology to buy the next one. I was happy to see that I’m really late to the table on this because there are already two VOLUMES out which means I can dive in and really enjoy the story without having to wait for issues.

The Forged ticks SO MANY boxes for me.

I can’t wait to continue this journey.