Creators: Patrick Kindlon & Marco Ferrari
Writer: Patrick Kindlon
Artist: Maurizio Rosenzweig
Colorist: Matteo Vattani
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Designer: Matt Battaglia
Cover Artist: Maurizio Rosenzweig
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $16.99
Release Date: November 12, 2025
Once, she embraced life. Gehenna enjoyed love, belonged to
someone, and looked forward to the future. Now, she dispenses judgment. What
sent Gehenna on the road to death and destruction? And what is she fighting
for? Let's grab our guns, leap into Gehenna: Naked Aggression TP Vol 1, and
find out!
Story
Gehenna intended to kill a mob boss. Instead, she fights for
her life. Gehenna scrambles with killers in the street, fighting hand-to-hand
and shooting the gangsters trying to kill her. Looking for a way out, she grabs
her target's son and heads inside. Gehenna needs help. Stephen doesn't seem
surprised to get pulled into the eye of the storm. He has but one question.
Why?
Patrick Kindlon divides each of the four issues into three
chapters, leaving no time for the plot to slow down. When Gehenna shrugs off
one opponent, another takes their place. Gehenna narrates most of the acts,
while the rest follow her pursuers. Patrick Kindlon’s story is about a plan
gone wrong. But it’s also about a life gone wrong. In Gehenna: Naked Aggression
TP Vol 1, life is a machine that grinds the little people down, and Gehenna got
stuck in the gears.
As in Mario Puzo’s famous novel, not all the people working
for criminal families are bad. Or perhaps there are levels of evil. Some, like
Kamiisa and Linira, treat people like assets and debts. Others, like Isa, are
more discerning in who has a right to live. Gehenna plays by rules she won't
readily break. Those include not killing children and superheroes.
Perhaps that's why young Stephen sticks by her side
throughout Gehenna: Naked Aggression TP Vol 1. While she trades in violence
like his father, Gehenna's life has a purpose. Gehenna may be bent on killing
those she views as evildoers. But unlike his father and those who prop up his
criminal empire, Gehenna believes in right and wrong.
Art
Maurizio Rosenzweig introduces each act with two widescreen
scenes on double-page spreads separated by a title. Clad in leather, a utility
belt, arm wrappings, and boots, Gehenna charges through panels. Muscles and
hair are clearly defined, thanks to detailed penciling. Tiny dust clouds
indicate rapid movement, while close-ups of weapons and gunfire enhance this
die-hard thriller.
As Gehenna barrels through the chaos in white and black,
Matteo Vattani enlivens scenes with a loaded palette. Isa tracks Gehenna's
flight on foot, wearing black and blue. When Gehenna and Stephen take to the
road, Isa leaps onto a pink scooter. Her rival, sword-wielding Linira, snears
at the "old timer" from her black limousine. Redhaired Kamiisa is all
business in her three-piece orange suit. Yellow and orange explosions and red
liquid flowing across a blue-gray tile floor reinforce the mob boss’s
ruthlessness in Gehenna: Naked Aggression TP Vol 1.
Black uppercase letters in white narrative boxes reveal the
narrators' thoughts and off-camera conversations. Like the life Gehenna and her
opponents lead, Jim Campbell places dialogue in jagged balloons with
razor-sharp edges. White and colored sound effects enhance the action as Gehenna
bulldozes through gangsters and superheroes. But then, no one said that erasing
her debt to underworld society would be easy. Thanks to Image Comics for
providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Gehenna tried to follow the rules. But when the other
players ignored them, she dedicated her life to hurting the people who ruined
hers. As Gehenna fights for what is right, the past intrudes on the present,
reminding her of what she has lost.
Gehenna Naked Aggression TP Vol 1 is an over-the-top revenge
tale, filled with whimsical echoes of her past, and lightened by would-be
heroes, exotic animals, and salutes to pop culture. An extensive cover gallery
concludes this fast-paced tale guaranteed to leave readers panting as they
await Gehenna's next adventure.
Rating 9.8/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.