REVIEW: ‘Partizan,’ Issue #1

Partizan #1 is a digital comic written by Dennis Liu and art by Kurt Chang. Justin Jin is feeling a bit trapped. He serves as the assistant to his brother, the notorious supervillain Taihei. Though, he’s not actually a villain. Taihei wages an ongoing battle with the evil corporation called Celes. Celes bought his family’s land out from under them back in the forties when they were sent to the internment camps and his family has been fighting against the corporation ever since. But Justin isn’t fully into the war that consumes his family. Which is tough, especially since his father and brother want him to get more involved than ever in the struggle.

Partizan #1 delivers an enjoyable fish out of water story that is filled with charm and emotion. Once the story gets readers caught up on the history between Justin’s family and Celes, we learn that Justin’s brother is quickly falling behind in his battles with Celes’s super-powered soldier Cereus. In order to try to get an edge again in their battles, Justin’s brother and father decide that Justin needs to infiltrate Celes as a new assistant, gaining the family new intel on their enemy. Justin is less than thrilled.

The rest of Partizan #1 follows Justin as he struggles to find a way to please his family, while also building a relationship with the night security guard named Kira. With absolutely no training in spycraft, espionage, or intelligence gathering, Justin’s attempts to gather the desired information for his family are less than fruitful.

Throughout this story, Justin comes across as an extremely sympathetic character. Already bearing misgivings about fighting a war over a wrong that happened roughly 60 years before his birth, the pressure to succeed at something he has no experience or training for only worsens Justin’s position. He just wants to do what is right, and get a pat on the back from the people who are supposed to appreciate him.

While his relationship with his family is an unending struggle, his blossoming relationship with Kira seems filled with quite a bit of promise. Despite the montage approach to covering much of Justin and Kira’s getting to know each other, the book manages to bring enough charm to this side of the narrative to get the reader moderately invested in the couple’s potential.

The art in Partizan #1 does a good job of bringing its story to life. It manages to balance the serious and the sweet of its tale well with solidly executed line work that respects both sides of the story’s narrative. Couple this with some lovely color palate utilization and you have an art presentation that brings the story to the reader in a way that is pleasing to the eye.

Wrapping up our look at the book is the lettering. The letters here do a solid job of guiding the reader through the story as it lays out the narrative in a clear and easy-to-follow manner.

So, when all is said and done, Partizan #1 starts a story that has emotion, charm, and plenty of room to grow. With a strong hook landing on the book’s final page, where the story will go next could see even more struggles for our protagonist to have to overcome.

Partizan #1 is available digitally here.