Doctor Leviathan #1
Created by James Matthew Banks, Jr.
Leviathan Comics
Cover price: $3.99; Available now

There’s a kid who sits next to you in Home Room. He wears a black trench coat, and he’s always hunched over drawing something. You lean over to get a look, just not so close that you’ll get a sharpened screwdriver or something stuck in your face. You’re surprised. The illustrations show a confident control of the line; you especially like a collage of monsters on the cover of his shop binder. There’s enough for you to say, “Hey, you should take art classes.”

That’s how I’d imagine meeting James Matthew Banks, Jr., the author of the Doctor Leviathan comic book. With a narrative that best summed up as “some violent crap,” possibly written by someone for whom English is a second language, we’re treated to spread after spread of Ãœber-violent villains that any Columbine-kid’s notebook cover would be proud to sport.

Eventually it might turn into something more. Just having the will to get this comic book self-published, as well as having obviously spent hours sketching, are hopeful ingredients. My advice would be: Don’t ever write the copy for your comic book again by yourself, and let your style expand, e.g., cross-hatching doesn’t bite.

As a caveat, I had a friend look at the comic book; a friend that happens to conspicuously wear a black trench coat almost everywhere. He finished reading it, then looked at me and said, “You know, it’s not that bad.”

So what the Hellraiser do I know, maybe.