Why So Blu?

‘Shed’ Discards Typical Comic Book Feel

…and it’s a good thing. There are hundreds, even thousands of comic book titles published around the world today. Many come and go, while other stalwarts have staked their claim in fandom and become favorites of many. For those that are here today and gone tomorrow, however, it’s worth taking a look at why they disappear. Poor story, perhaps? Not enough publicity? I have no role in Shed‘s story, but I’ll do what I can to deliver the publicity because this title is so worth it.

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Created and written by Ken Spevergav and Obie Scott Wade, Shed takes us into a not-so-distant future on earth when Tim, a loving family man with a wife and daughter, experiences a most painful and graphic discarding of his full skin in full public viewing.  Eventually referred to as ‘Number One’, his experiences take us through a world where mother nature effectively evolves a protein in humans so they lose their skin.  No longer are people defined by racial origin though skin tone, eye shape and hair type.  All these things have been cast off.  The new beings are known as the Sarx.

While page 11 of issue #1 left me a bit bewildered, things start falling into place very quickly.  Despite the science fiction base of the story, it holds a very real world overtone.  The gritty and detailed art, courtesy of Steve Beach, functionally serves the story’s delivery through each panel as concentration camps are formed to house the skinless home-genus species, all the while an impending mysterious mass of radiation heads toward earth and massive underground bunkers are built to house the remaining humans.  It’s not merely a case of our team (humans) versus your team (Sarx).  Deals are cut behind the scenes between characters on each side, tensions rise, violence ensues and life begrudgingly marches onward.

There are strong parallels to racial tensions in our world as well as bias against anyone who doesn’t look like you.  There is a direct correlation to how the Nazis treated the Jews and how wacko fundamentalists pursue and harass homosexuals.  These mistreatments of our fellow women and men in history are very successfully translated in Shed‘s story which debuts in both print and digital formats on July 13, 2017 from independent publisher Sabotage Industries.  I’m not saying Shed is the title of the year or the best thing since sliced bread.  That’s for you to decide.

It does, however, deliver a serious story steeped in strife and hope that is absent of super heroes, zombies and wizardry.  It breathes fresh life into an industry that sometimes casts its reach too significantly on cape-wielding heroics and staff-waving villainy.  There are no clear lines of good or evil for most of the characters here, only clarity on the struggle to survive.

Check out Shed and other great projects from Sabotage Industries at their website:

www.sabotageindustries.com