Available at Amazon.com ^[1]

Issue: Vault #1
Writer: Sam Sarkar
Artist: Garrie Gastonny
Colors: Sakti Yuwono
Cover: Bagus Hutomo
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 2011
Pages: 32
Price: $3.50

“A small team of treasure hunters struggles to excavate a dangerous and legendary treasure pit before a massive storm hits Sable Island, the ‘Graveyard of the North Atlantic’.Equipped with all the latest technology, the scientists believe they are prepared against all of nature’s fury, but nothing can prepare them for what they are about to unleash from The Vault.”

Artwork: 4.0 out of 5
This is seriously a solid-looking issue that doesn’t have a lot of horror elements in it until the end. A huge plus on this book was the characters staying perfect from panel to panel. Every page had so much detail that it was like a moving painting telling a visual story. The colors can stand up there with some of the best on the market today. The underwater scenes especially stand out as some of the best in the issue. The main highlight for me though was the final page when the mystery finally presented itself in a great creepy visual. Oh and the cover… GORE-Geous!

Story: 4.0 out of 5
This story had a lot of build, and I mean a lot of build. Personally I am not a fan of underwater stuff like diving or treasure hunting, but Sarkar did such a great job of keeping me hooked from start to finish that I could not put this book down. The dialogue was perfect from page to page, meaning nothing seemed out of place. Much like the artwork, a great amount of detail went into the story as well. There is a good amount of technical wording here that was, in all honesty, so needed to tell what was going on. Overall this was a good one to read.

Dying Breath: 4.0 out of 5
Every now and then I am excited to check out a book early and this one was a perfect example of why. Horror style elements weren’t always there, but a great intriguing story was. Nothing about this issue ever made me bored to where I wanted to put it down, it was so solid from start to finish. The big bang will come in issue #2 and I expect something along the lines of The Thing to take place. Now is the time to put this on your pull list and I am giving it my recommendation with two thumbs… wait I don’t have thumbs… 2 eyeballs looking up!

If you would like to buy or know more about Vault #1 you can find it at ImageComics.com ^[2].

Review by Dan Royer

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