Review: Saint

Available now, Saint is a self-published graphic novel from J.R. Dunbar

When vigilante Jake Barker opens his eyes to a physics-defying realm and looks up to see a towering figure that seemingly appears out of thin air, he realizes something: he is dead. When he miraculously returns to his home city of Sprymouth as the super-powered “Saint”, the only thing on his mind is revenge…Not just for himself, but for his family. In doing so, Saint unknowingly sets forth a vicious game of vengeance trumping vengeance as he gets tangled up with the top crime family in the city, only to discover that having his newfound abilities often does more harm than good. Did the comics have it wrong? Can he save everybody, or will innocents get caught in the crossfire?

by J.R. Dunbar

Jumping into Saint, I found it hard to put down until I had read all of it.

This is a superhero story with not one, but two origins for the hero. It’s well done, with enough build on the original hero part to get you invested. When the second origin starts, it all fits into place.

The narrative not only juggles realism and fiction, it goes as far as to utilize realism to justify the fiction. Playing vigilante in real life will get you killed, and it’s because of this harsh truth that our protagonist gets his lifetime wish granted: becoming a real superhero. It’s a ruthless and emotional tale with shocking and unfair moments at every turn.

Building off one character, there are lots of ups and downs to the story. They are well told as Jake not only gets to grips with his new life, but those around him do to.

There is a tragic sense of loss for Jake, which is preceded (briefly) before his demise. This only encourages him to fight on, and that is where the ‘super’ part comes into the hero.

As far as nemesis are concerned, they are suitably evil, with the means at their disposal to fight Saint. This makes things less of a one-sided affair and adds some good limits to this powerful hero.

In between the action, there is some good character moments, from the off, we learn what drives Jake and why he was noticed by the one above it all.

The action is well done, and surprisingly violent, but the fight scenes are well choreographed and show the damage done.

I enjoyed the art style, it had some excellent scenes (I especially liked the moon) and dealt with the gritty parts as well as the flashy parts.

Combining the mystic with the down to earth aspects can be a difficult ask, but Saint does it well. There is scope for more from this hero, and I enjoyed reading it.

Check out the details of Saint here, with links to buy it on Amazon Kindle.

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