Issue: Mudman #1
Writer/Artist: Paul Grist
Colors: Bill Crabtree
Publisher: Image Comics
Mudman starts with lightning hitting some mud with some story interspersed between the art panels. It then jumps to characters named Jack and Owen breaking into an abandoned house, wanting to vandalize it.
While talking Owen runs into a room filled with gadgets and a costume and, after inspecting the area, is heard by someone else in the house. Owen runs away, while getting shot at, but suddenly wakes in his room, thinking the whole thing was a nightmare. That is, until he sticks his hands in water and sees them turn into mud.
After that, readers meet Owen’s dad and sister, who have bigger roles later in the issue. It’s Owen’s first day at school and within the first few minutes, he runs into a bully and manages to get hit by a teacher’s car, covering it in mud. Later, Owen daydreams that he is falling into mud, but able to pull himself out of it and also manages to get in trouble with another teacher. After school, and detention, his sister tells him that their dad isn’t answering the phone. However, Owen sees his dad’s car outside of the house he was at last night, so he goes inside. He grabs the costume from before, puts it on and jumps on an attacker.
I thought this first issue was really good. It had a good setup and there are plenty of things left unexplained, like how did Owen get his mysterious mud powers, what does the very first page have to do with anything, does the house have to do with anything happening to Owen, and so on. Hopefully, all of these questions will be answered as the comic goes on.
