A Voice in the Dark, “Get Your Gun” #1:

A Review

A Voice in the Dark was easily one of the best reviewed and most talked about titles published by Image Comics and Top Cow last year. The story of Zoe Aarons and her life of dealing with her urges to kill was a complicated and compelling read that fans of diversity in the medium immediately fell in love with.


The story of A Voice in the Dark becomes even more interesting when you learn about the history of its creator, Larime Taylor. Taylor handles all creative aspects of the book, writing, drawing and lettering each issue all on his own, a fact the made all the more impressive when you learn he does all this with his mouth. Taylor suffers from a disease called Arthrogryposis, which effectively makes his arm and legs useless, so he does all the work on A Voice in the Dark using only his mouth and a Wacom Cintiq tablet. And somehow he has almost always hit his deadlines without fail.

Think about that the next time the new issue of Hawkeye ships late.

With A Voice in the Dark: Get Your Gun, Taylor begins the next chapter of Zoe’s story. Picking up shortly after the events of the first miniseries, Zoe is dealing with the fact she has killed again, this time a double-murder that she has discovered someone else knows about. Zoe has to try to cope with all this while also dealing with college, relationships, and her radio talk show.

As with the first miniseries, Taylor’s writing is tight and well-paced, giving the reader a comic filled with suspense and tension that also reads like the typical slice of life story of a regular college student. It’s that contrast that really helps Get Your Gun stand out and makes it such a unique read. He manages to almost mix the two genres to create a mashup that is, in a feat almost unheard of in comics today, totally original and never seen before. Most stories like this would be filled with standard serial killer/murderer on the loose tropes and cliches, but Taylor stays away from all that and instead gives the reader a protagonist that could be just about anyone you might know. It adds an extra layer to an already deep story that readers will find unnerving and really enjoyable.

The art continues to be one of the highlights of A Voice in the Dark as Taylor uses very simple line work and storytelling technique to give a rich visual aspect to the world he is creating. Characters look like real people and the cast has a variety to it that you would be hard pressed to find in any other comic today. For Get Your Gun, Taylor has added color to try to broaden his audience and increase sales. And while I loved the stark black-and-white of the first series, the colors here work very well, using muted tones to enhance the art while not taking anything away from it.

The sales on A Voice in the Dark have been criminally low for a series this good, which is a real shame. It’s a polar opposite of what Marvel and DC are currently doing and any fan of Saga, The Walking Dead or Sandman would find a lot to like if they gave the book a chance.

A Voice in the Dark: Get Your Gun #1 gets my highest recommendation. It’s a new beginning for the series that rewards readers of volume one while also welcoming new readers with open arms. It’s the kind of title that needs the support and every issue sold can make a difference as to whether we’ll see more in the future.

So go out and get a copy today. You won’t be sorry.

Tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Goodman has been an ardent lover of comic books since he was 8 years old when his mother bought him his first Star Wars comic from the local pharmacy spinner rack. Since then, he has devoured literally thousands of pages of graphic literature, finding something to enjoy in almost every comic he reads. David is the creator and original writer of The Comic Roundup, Geekadelphia's weekly comic book review column, as well as an occasional contributor to the Zenescope Entertainment blog. In addition to comics, David also loves the Philadelphia 76ers and runs the website The Sixers Cave, his ode to all things Sixers, in what little spare time he has.

See more, including free online content, on .

Leave a Reply