Review - Ugli Studios Presents #1

Up and coming publishers rely on clever storytelling to get you hooked. That could be creative stories, crazy characters or story twists that make the endings less than conventional. It's the latter that Ugli Studios Presents #1 relies on for its storytelling components.

The first story is called "Through the Eyes of Grizelda," and is written by Jason Lenox and David Paul, illustrated by Lenox, colored by Dani Kaulakis and lettered by Paul. The second story is called "The Great Vermin" and features the same creative team.

The first story is called "Through the Eyes of Grizelda," and it's got an Army of Darkness feel to it, with a great warrior fighting an evil sorcerer. The story takes place during an epic back and forth battle, culminating in quite a surprising twist. The second story is called "The Great Vermin" and is something out of The Twilight Zone, where aliens and humans can't necessarily get along.

Both stories rely on pulling the reader in one direction throughout and then jerking them abruptly in another direction at the end. The first story does this much more successfully than the second one. "Through the Eyes of Grizelda" is actually fairly strong--definitely the stronger of the two. It blends a warrior-like narration with an undead army fighting relentlessly. The strength in it lies in the entire misdirect that pays off pretty handsomely at the end in a very clever way.

On the other hand, the ending of "The Great Vermin" is a little disappointing. It feels as if it has grander ambitions then it manages to achieves and falls a little short. It's a lot less demanding on the reader than the first story and the payoff isn't as rewarding. It feels a little cliche.

Lenox also handles the art duties and, again, it's the first story where his work shows better. The undead army and warrior are illustrated with a dark grittiness, but not much in the way of detail. The second story is mostly characters in baggy spacesuits and doesn't really allow much of the art to shine through.

The team behind Ugli Studios Presents #1 have grand ambitions, but the issue falls a little short. The first story does show promise and could be good with a bit more polish, but the second story is a bit less entertaining. Here's hoping the second issue could be a lot more coherent and feature stronger storylines.

Ugli Studios Presents #1 is available now.