Review #6: Face Value Comics

Face Value comics #1:

Written by David and Angela Kot

Art by Sky

Website: http://facevaluecomics.com/

Face Value comics can be described as the story of Michael Eckman, a boy going to school in the distant future who goes on an adventure with his class mates. The group of teens, lead by Michael, go on a field trip and find what appears to be an abandoned air ship. And together they share a fun little adventure. But this comic is much, much more.

We find ourselves in a future where mankind has once again become dependent on steam power, which gives the comic a distinct Steam-Punk look and feel. And in this future aliens have come to live among us and new previously undiscovered creatures living beneath the ocean have come out to join mankind. David and Angela Kot have put a lot into creating a lush and expansive world for their story. A world that you can tell will be utilized to its fullest potential in issues to come.

But Face Value comics is actually much more than some teens having an adventure in this futuristic world. It is the story of a boy living with autism. Our hero Michael suffers from autism and is trying to learn to live in the regular world. While making friends and learning how to interact with people and their emotions.

I feel the comic is best described in its forward: “Autism at Face Value studies facial expressions as one way to improve (nonverbal) communication. We help children with autism to spot emotional expressions using art. Identifying emotions helps people manage some troubling feelings. Readers learn to recognize small changes in face features and body language/ Our license agreement makes Face Value Comics the world’s first to FEATURE an Autisic Hero, reminiscent of the Golden Age of Comics.  Autism at Face Value practices “comic awareness”, meaning our use of comic books and educational toys to publicly demystify Autism Spectrum Disorders (AD). Children need and want comic book heroes like themselves.”

I did not now that facial recognition was something that was difficult for people with autism. Or reading other’s emotions. But in reading this book I can see that now. On the surface some of the other characters in the book seem flawed. Easy to anger or mirth, but when realize the mission of the comic book you realize these character reactions are being used to show a plethora of human emotions for the autistic reader to absorb and learn from.

Knowing this I realized that this was then a tall order for artist Sky to fulfill, but I must say it was done masterfully. Drawn and colored in a style reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon I thoroughly enjoyed the art of this comic. Sky did a masterful job of capturing each emotion as needed within the story and I can see that being a wonderful tool to help teach children with autism.  The art was consiten and well executed.

If I was going to give any criticism to this story, it’s that we spend a lot of pages in the beginning of the comic setting up the world of Face Value comics. We have a mysterious man in a blue mask telling us we are at war and introducing the key characters in this conflict and then all of a sudden we are brought into the world of our Hero Michael. And we do not see the mysterious man again I the story.  I am sure that this is for shadowing for things to come, but I prefer characters and elements to be introduced more slowly through a well developed story and not spoon fed to me in the introductions. But this is simply a personal preference of mine and when speaking with the creative team I was given the understanding we will be hearing more from all those characters in issues to come. I look forward to seeing their stories unfold.

I know we normally give the comic books of reading on this website something out of 10 capes. But I don’t feel Face Value Comics should be rated. I feel everyone should go out and pick this comic up and judge it for yourself. If you know someone who has autism or if someone your family has autism or even if you yourself as a have autism I think you should take the time and read a Face Vime. And even if you don’t have autism you should read this book to help get a better understanding of what people with autism are going through, and maybe you’ll get a better understanding of their lives. I applaud David Angela and Sky for this wonderful comic and I hope they continue to go on with this for many years to come.