Plainer Jane, Reviewed. A Rather Darkly Comic Story from Broken Face Comics

What happens when a teenager finds her calling on the dark web? Well, it definitely ain’t makeup tutorials or nursing, in this rather darkly comic story from Broken Face Comics.

Plainer Jane is something a little different and it certainly surprises. Written by David Wilburn with the main art courtesy of Wayne Lowden, it’s a real-world comic book which if nothing else will have you refusing to ever help a little girl look for her missing doggie, whilst suddenly suspicious of innocent-looking strangers. However, that’s not the only quite interesting thing about this comic. The wrangler of the immensely talented team behind Plainer Jane and the comics writer David Wilburn is rather noteworthy. Apart from also being the owner of Broken Face Comics David Wilburn spent twenty years as David Straightjacket, the Guinness World Record-breaking escapologist, sword swallower and stuntman. I mean come on, it’s got nothing to do with the comic but it’s quite interesting.

So, with no further distraction, let’s start with the art. We’ll start in order of appearance for this one as there is an immensely talented collection of artists responsible for cover art, both front and back, sequential art, colours and logos/lettering. So we’ll start at that front cover. Courtesy of Ralf Singh it’s a great hook for teasing what’s to come. Ralf depicts a young woman sat in bed casually reading and chewing gum. We can see she has a very healthy (by my standard) musical interest. It’s what lies beneath the bed that offers a heavy hint of what’s to come. The absolute icing on the cake for me is Tim West's logo. It’s perfectly stylised and really sells this story from a stand-alone perspective. Technically excellent and easily one of my top five favourite covers of 2020. It really felt important to note this, much like the back cover, but we’ll get to that.

First, let’s look at Wayne Lowden's sequential art. Wayne provides some very pleasing monochrome art. The bold ink lines offer a lovely distinct style throughout. The opening act has great use of shadow and a heavy lined sketch style that adds super details. It’s busy in a satisfying way. I felt Wayne's art really shines in the darkest moments. I really enjoyed the contrast between these moments and the more mundane or normal life scenes. What really elevates this art in many of the panels is Robert Lasts colours or rather colour. As Robert uses flashes of red that really make Waynes art-pop, and cements both physical and metaphorical darkness. Weaving through this art Tim West pops up again providing lettering. It’s very accomplished, never too busy, wonderfully clear and excellently styled for its moments of emphasis. Finally, and I don’t think there's ever been one to review, we have a stunning back cover... I believe this beautiful piece of art comes courtesy of Donna A Black and it’s just beguiling.

Ok, that’s the art so how’s David Wilburn's story hold up? Well, it sublimely delivers. I try to go into reviews as blind as possible for the first read, just to experience the comic in what I feel is the fullest way. As such I have to say that the description available on Broken Face Comics website is a bit too spoilerish or oversold, with a couple of details I’d look forward to being surprised by especially by future issues. Anyway, this will be much vaguer and hopefully still enough to get you out to your copy. 

So, Plainer Jane is the story of the plainest of Janes. The opening act builds fast reveals of Jane's true nature and how there is at least one thing that sets her apart from the crowd. We jump to an origin story that plays out expertly with excellent dark humour sprinkled through while delivering a great fleshing out of Jane's character. The pace is idealised with its quick circular build with twisted moments. It’s greatly entertaining stuff that offers a very intriguing set up for what could be a fascinating, darkly comic tale of a very ordinary-looking young woman with an extraordinary talent, on an unconventional to say the least career path. This story hit’s all the right notes for a first issue and has me excited for its next chapter. It’s the potential that bumps up the score.

For a darkly comic story of using one’s unexceptional existence to a twisted advantage, I can highly recommend Plainer Jane. David promises another three or four Kickstarter campaigns to deliver this story, so there's plenty of opportunities to get some great rewards. Do not wait however as you can go to www.brokenfacecomics.com where you can get a real selection of purchase options. From the daftly reasonable price of £3 for digital copies or just as reasonably priced physical copies as well as signed versions. That’s not all though. There are some really awesome original art pages for sale with signed prints as another option. I urge you to check it out for yourself.

Review: 4.5/5