REVIEW: ‘Lunar Room,’ Issue #1

Described as “a wild new sci-fi-fantasy-noir hybrid series,” I was so eager to get my hands on reading Lunar Room #1 from Vault Comics. With a story penned by Danny Lore and with art by Gio Sposito, colorist DJ Chavis, letterer Andworld, and designer Tim Daniel, the creative rounds out talent in waves for a fresh new comic. Cynthia “Sin” Breaker is a woman just struggling to make it, a former shell of herself: a powerful werewolf who once dealt in violence as her main job. Now, she and many others mainly consider her as a declawed has-been. A chance encounter with a young mage who has gotten themselves into a whole lot of trouble gives her a taste of what she once was: powerful and not one to mess with.

The plot of Lunar Room #1 comes to us in chapters introducing us to this world of magic and tech along with a few of our major players on the stage: Sin, a woman cursed and longing for the past, of who she used to be, strings attached. Zac Zero, the young mage who might as well wear a name badge with “Disrupter Supreme” pinned to their chest, cause chaos muppet seems to be what they is good for. They approach Sin with motivations, ulterior ones, and perhaps more. Both have their time to shine on the pages, with us readers getting a chance to hear their narration, and the story passes.

I love the artwork that the creative team has put together here: It is not until the pages where Sin appears that the action starts, the colors pop, and the lettering stands out superbly. Our main character appears fighting a creature —a banshee— and pulls off some awesome/technical wrestling-like moves, ending with a clean supplex to banish this creature into a portal. The absolute quickest way to my heart is to show me, folks, in comics making wrestling moves of any kind, especially a brown-skinned, leather-clad woman with a past!

The pages next lead us to her at an actual small fighting promotion where she’s forced into a match where she’s at a disadvantage because she has no tag team partner, or does she? This leads to some fantastic pages that reveal more about her as a character and a bit about her new ally, who can’t and should not be trusted just yet. With Sposito’s artwork, several pages make you stop and stare at Sin’s unexpected transformation and her almost dance-like fight with the creature that she banished earlier on in the issue. There are a few panels where certain angles are a bit wonky, but it is not a deal-breaker for me. Chavis’ coloring is a great companion, not just the action panels but the quieter ones where fighting calms down, and realizations are made. Andworld’s lettering enhances scenes from alarms going off to a crowd calling for blood in the ring.

Intriguing, gorgeous, and a fun genre mash-up makes Lunar Room #1 a solid debut with a lot of promise. While I am way more interested in Cynthia “Sin” Breaker versus Zac Zero, I do wonder what their potential partnership will bring and who they will face as a team. I love world-building and did not feel that the ‘magic and tech’ foundation was fleshed out enough here in this first issue to make this first issue a knockout. I am sure that further issues can solve that.

Lunar Room #1 is available now wherever comics are sold.

Carrie McClain

Carrie navigates the world as a writer, editor, and media scholar who firmly believes that we can and we should critique the media we consume. She’s a lover and fierce supporter of all things comics, manga, webcomics, manhwa, and graphic novels–find her rereading Yotsuba for wholesome vibes.