Comic Review: The Beauty


From Goodreads:


In the world of The Beauty, physical perfection is only one sexual encounter away. The vast majority of the population has taken advantage of it, but Detectives Vaughn and Foster will soon discover it comes at a terrible cost. Now, they’ll have to find their way past corrupt politicians, vengeful federal agents, and a terrifying mercenary out to collect the price on their heads.

Collects the first six issues of the critically acclaimed, Pilot Season winning series by writer/artist JEREMY HAUN (Constantine, Batwoman) and co-writer JASON A. HURLEY.

To begin, please be aware that this graphic novel contains mature content and is rated M accordingly.  Nudity, strong violence, vulgarity, and the like are gratuitously used.  You have been warned.

Image Comics is my favorite publisher in the comic book industry, outside of Dark Horse and the like, so picking this horror trade up was a no-brainer for me.  With such a fascinating premise as an STD that causes you to become beautiful, I could not say no.

That being said, even though I enjoyed the first six issues of the comic overall, I felt there was something lacking.  I wanted more scientific explanation for the disease, more character development, just… more from this.  It was very plot driven, and while we get bits and pieces of character backstory, other characters we get little to nothing about.  This can be attributed to the medium itself, of course, but with the issues following this apparently following a different set of characters, I was really disappointed in that aspect.  If you cannot remember the character’s names without referencing the material itself immediately after reading, there is a problem with the amount of impact they are leaving on you.  And with how comically bad the villain was for the general atmosphere of the story, mask and all, I was a bit let down, to be completely honest.

While the overall story was predictable and easy to follow, there tended to be a lot of holes as well.  (HOW DID THEY FIND THAT PERSON?  HOW DID THEY DO THIS AND THAT?  HOW???)  Even so, I really did enjoy the general concept and where the authors took it.  The themes of governmental cover up and pharmaceutical control of the population always tend to grab my interest, and following the detectives as you see the full picture with them is wonderfully intense.  The horror aspects are well done, and the gruesomeness of the work can be felt in both the text and the accompanying images.  The end of the sixth issue is satisfying and, to be honest, the comic could end there and I would be happy.  No cliffhangers, a nice solid open ending.  I honestly do not know what they could do with subsequent issues, it felt complete enough.

Something that pleasantly surprised me was the LGBT inclusion within the story.  Both one of the anti-Beauty activists as well as the CDC director are stated/shown to be in same-sex relationships, the latter with a family of her own.  It was done so naturally and seamlessly, did not feel tokenized, and is a breath of fresh air, honestly.

This story is quick and relentless, and I give The Beauty a solid three stars.  If you are looking for a quick horror comic read, I would definitely recommend trying it if you are there for the story itself and not the characters.  Characters are easily disposable enough in horror anyway, right?  Haha.