Cryptocracy Issue #1 Review

Photo Credit: Dark Horse Comics Cryptocracy is the newest comic series from the minds of Van Jensen and Pete Woods. Pete Woods is best know for his work on Deadpool, Robin, Catwoman and Backlash. He is a well know and respected author and artist. The other author behind Cryptocracy is Van Jensen who is best known as a writer for DC’s The Flash and Green Lantern.

The term “Cryptocracy” means comes From Ancient Greek κρυπτός ‎(kruptós), from kryptós ‎(kryptós, “hidden”) +κραττείν ‎(kratteín, “to rule”) in plain English it means A form of government where the real leaders are hidden, or merely unknown.

Cryptocracy is published by Dark Horse Comics, it tells the very entertaining tale of an earth very similar to our own that is going about its business completely oblivious to a massive secret. That secret being that the earth is controlled by nine families. These nine families control everything from media, politics, military to legendary creatures and even aliens.

The storyline involves the north American family “Mars” beginning a transition of leadership, from father to children, it also involves a mishap that the family tried to cover up that accidentally caused the deaths of hundreds. Meanwhile the family “Jupiter” begins making a move to take over the arctic region of earth and expand its own territory. Suddenly a mysterious man appears in the UFO type ship the Jupiter family travels in, proclaiming that a fulfillment of prophecy is coming, the man then kills everyone on the ship by crashing it, saying “Chronos sends his regards” before leaving. The comic ends with the nine terrified as they have never been hunted before.

Firstly the comic does a great job at balancing in its first issue, many comics are overloaded or to heavy-handed, with to much action or not enough. Cryptocracy does a good job at crafting its world and telling the reader about what has come and will be coming. Its use of action and dialogue is also very well handled, with good exposition mixed with fun and original action scenes.

The artwork really stands out, the use of color is well handled, the gore from the action scenes is also something that was done well. While some of the scenes are R rated due to violence the violence is handled tastefully and does not shock the viewer. The design of the people in Cryptocracy is also well done, they look suitably human while also giving off a good comic book flair. I also love how the writers poked fun at the genre by including instructions for making a tin foil hat! It was a very funny moment.

Overall this is a fantastic first issue and I for one can’t wait to see what comes next!

5 out of 5 Hops from the Viral Hare!