You don’t know Jutte Shelley, but you might know her family. Before she was a Shelley, she was a Frankenstein. These days, she’s a Detroit Special Ops officer. At least she was, until she and her entire team were ambushed during what should have been a routine call. Jutte watched as, one by one, her friends were gunned down. And then, in a flurry of bullets, Jutte fell too. But Jutte isn’t like other people. She’s a Frankenstein. And she knows all her family’s secrets. Guess who’s getting the gang back together?
Writing
This series throws you right into the middle of intense action from the first page. Writer Paul Tobin seemed to be channeling a bit of Robocop when he wrote this, as the intense gunfight in the first few pages seem to be a homage to the film. Or maybe any scene involving an intense shootout with police brings on this reflection.
From there though, Made Men offers a new look into the legend behind Frankenstein and his creations. The first issue is bit heavy on the exposition but still offers a captivating character and an interesting world surrounding her. The issue doesn’t flesh out the personalities and motivations of the other characters in Jutte’s team, but it makes you want to know more about what they were like before the events of this comic.
Artwork
The art team of Arjuna Susini on art and Gonzalo Duarte doing colors makes for a very impressive combination. The excessive amounts of gore and action which they employed through the issue is shocking but not overused. Instead, thanks to lots of good details added to each panel the violence comes off as pure art.
Conclusion
Made Men #1 is the start of something big. The series offers a lot of possibilities moving forward thanks to the interesting concept and engrossing artwork. The issue also seems to offer a twist at the end which was subtle hinted at throughout the book. Again though, if you couldn’t tell from the reference to Robocop, this book is not for the faint of heart.
