MATI Gumroad -ISOM #1 Review 2025-04-02

0:00:00
Unknown_00: Hello, this is a review of a comic book, the most contentious comic book ever made, Isom. A black man dared to create a story about a black man superhero. Is it terrible? Is it amazing? Let's find out. To give a brief overview of why I'm even talking about this, I have never owned a comic book in my entire life. In fact, Isom 1 and 2 are the first two comic books I think I've ever held in my hands. My mom has read the Walking Dead comic books, and those are the only comic books I think I've ever seen in person.

Unknown_00: I have no interest in comic books. I've never read any comic books. However, I think that to fully, fully invite myself into this controversy about if Isom is the worst comic book ever created... It requires actually reading it, and since I know comic books are meant to be held in your hand, I figured, hey, I'll go out and I'll actually buy a copy of this, which I've done.

0:00:36
Unknown_00: There are many fat retards on the internet who are very upset about this comic book. I guess they assume that the success it has is undeserved. They've each made, I think, millions of dollars each. They've sold thousands of copies online.

Unknown_00: And I guess there's some issues. So I will talk about both the things I like and the things I do not like. I've read Isom 1 so far. I will read Isom 2 later. And I will also review that. If you're somebody who has somehow found this video and you have no idea who I am, you will probably hate this review. Enjoy. One legitimate complaint I have right off the bat that doesn't really make sense until after you've read the comic... This cover is a complete misrepresentation of the contents of this comic.

0:01:16
Unknown_00: There is no fight scene between the people in green suits and the Isom man, the main character, Avery. He is in his suit, and he is engaging. I think they're called the Alpha Corps. I'm pretty sure that's their name. The Alpha Corps don't really do anything in this first edition, and And Avery doesn't get his suit until the actual last page. Spoiler alert.

0:01:53
Unknown_00: So the comic book cover that I have, which I think is cover C, as it's advertised, is a complete lie. And that's kind of a big deal because I think my main complaint about the comic book is that it's a superhero story. And it really shouldn't be. This is the first page that you see when you open the comic. I figure I should talk about the art a little bit. The art seems fine to me. Apparently some people disagree with this. I don't have any complaints about how it looks. I think that the comic style is well done. I would say there is something strange about, very specifically, white faces. There's something a little bit off-putting about them. I want to say they look a little bit too soft or something. It's really strange. I don't even know how to describe it.

0:02:58
Unknown_00: But besides that, it's a really nice style. Some people complained about the colors. I don't have any issue with it. I think that they were going for that, and it's whatever it is. This is the dedication. The dedication to me was, this is a really weird thing to complain about, but it was the first thing that I read so it kind of stuck with me even to the point where I've finished it. I've read it twice now and it really sticks out to me. Just the way that the dedication is written is really strange and kind of awkward. I'll read it. um eric uh says i'd like to thank every single supporter fan and colleague that has helped make my many dreams come true but this comic book venture is easily the most adventurous or ambitious project that i've ever had the blessing of committing to um

0:03:30
Unknown_00: I'm not sure, but it really bothers me. I'd like to thank everybody, but this project is really awesome, and I guess I did it, you know, I'd like to thank myself. That's how it comes across. Yeah, I'd like to thank my supporters, but I'd also like to point out that this was a lot of work, and I did it. uh that was really weird and i i uh resolved to make fun of it um so it starts off really weak and i don't mean to be too negative right off the gate but i really i i still even in retrospect i don't fully understand what this this intro sequence has to do with the story it's basically the the cops are talking amongst themselves about how the crime rate's going down because of superheroes

0:04:38
Unknown_00: The police chief seems to get upset and yells at the cops for what they're saying. I really don't understand how this ties in. It doesn't really make any sense to me. Maybe I'm just retarded. I do accept that as a possibility. But it doesn't really have anything to do with Avery. It doesn't really have anything to do with what's happening in the story. It just seems like...

Unknown_00: You know, police chief trope from comic book movies. It kind of reminds me of the police chief in Spider-Man or something. It just seems out of place and doesn't really connect. So the main plot is actually that Avery has this black woman friend who lives in the city. Avery lives out in the country and he seems to want to live a quiet life. However, this woman has called him to say that someone he knows... Jasmine, the young woman, has gone missing and they have reason to believe that she is in danger. So despite wanting to live out in the country, he decides to go back into the city to find out what happened to Jasmine. Because she's friends of family or something like that. People have complained that an ex-superhero going back into the business is sort of an unusual plot for a comic book. It did not stand out to me as something stupid. It kind of hints that there's more going on that you can learn about, and I found that okay. Everything regarding Jasmine and that plot is fine to me.

0:05:54
Unknown_00: So kind of apropos of nothing, it cuts to a fight scene between the Alpha Corps guys in the green suits that are on the cover and a woman named Yara, who is like a blonde chick in spandex.

Unknown_00: I don't know what this really sets up. It's sort of weird. There's like a couple like there's ABC plots in the very first part of the book, which is really confusing because I don't know anything about ISOM. I don't know anything about the universe, but it cuts to police. You know, the first first segment in the book is police are complaining about crime and stuff. And then this girl's missing. And then also plot C, Yera, a lady in spandex I've never seen before, is fighting the Alpha Corps, who I don't know anything about. And it's like a lot happening right at the beginning. It loses me almost immediately. But each of these segments is so short that it wasn't really insurmountable. I just didn't understand why there was ABC to open the book with.

0:07:10
Unknown_00: But you can see it cuts right there from the confrontation between the superhero people. And then Avery just kind of going to his old friend's club to ask questions about Jasmine. And that sets off the actual confrontation that matters to the main character. So Avery meets a guy called Darren who runs the club but is also sort of like a criminal entrepreneur. He runs what he calls an empire company. Darren and Avery are apparently high school friends that have known each other for years at this point. But despite that, and despite Avery having a superhero background, apparently, Darren fucking hates him for no explained reason. Darren, well, I mean, the explanation is kind of weak. Darren just says that he's a fucking loser and he's always hated him. Darren basically tells him to get lost and brings up this really big black guy called an Except, which I think is a really stupid name.

0:07:54
Unknown_00: Except is apparently what they call... It's kind of like the word mutant in the X-Men comics, I guess, where it's like anyone who's special is called Except, which is, I assume, short for exceptional. But the word Except is like a real word in the English language, and...

Unknown_00: it's used a lot so kind of borrowing that for a descriptor doesn't it's kind of i don't i don't like that i personally i don't like that anyways the black guy beats the fuck out of him and very coincidentally he gets his ass thrown out of the club and he literally collides with the yara chick and yara is like wait are you an alpha core undercover cop like an undercover superhero except And she's like, I don't trust you. So she throws him into a car and flies away. Apparently he cannot fly. And apparently him not being able to fly is a meme because he should be able to fly because all the other accepts can fly or some shit. But literally the only tie in between that fight with the Alpha Corps and Yara is just to have him crash into her. It really doesn't make any sense to me. So this is the page that shows that he's crashed into the car. However, you might be forgiven for missing the fact that that's a really cool frame of him crashing into a car because on the other page is the worst thing about this entire book. And I don't understand how I didn't... Like, if people were complaining about this, it was completely drowned out with all the other bullshit they were complaining about because this is a legitimate grievance. And what's worse is that...

0:09:29
Unknown_00: It's an advertisement. It's an advertisement for what appears to be an independent fashion line called Dream State. I fully hold in absolute contempt any form of advertising in a paid-for product.

Unknown_00: The price of this book was a thing in contention. The comic book that Air July is selling is a higher price than most comic books. So it's sort of like, oh, how does he have the audacity to break into the scene as an independent comic book publisher, publish his first comic, and then ask for more than DC and Marvel are asking for comics or something like that. That was a thing that people complained about. I understand that inflation is a thing and that things cost more now than they used to, especially if you're doing things at a small economy of scale. So I understand charging more for a comic book, and I don't fault him for that. I do absolutely fault him for putting a full-page advertisement in the dead center of a comic book sort of as like a chapter divider, especially if you're going to ask for more money than a standard comic book goes for. And I don't know if it's better or worse that this is apparently the Etsy store that's owned by Eric July's wife. I kind of understand, you know, shilling for your wife's business.

0:10:55
Unknown_00: Um, but number one, it should not be in the middle of the comic. It should be at the end. Cause there's lots of self promotion that he does for other spinoffs that he's planning at the end of the book. And that's fine. I have no issue with that. However, I think it's sort of worse that it's his wife, but he doesn't say it's my, it's his wife. You know what I mean? Like if he wants to do an ad for her and say like, by the way, if you want to check out my wife's business, here's her, her fashion line.

Unknown_00: You know, that's one thing. Because when I saw this, I literally thought it was just some random clothing line, and I was really angry. I was actually genuinely upset when I saw this.

0:11:32
Unknown_00: And it really soured the entire thing for me, because it's like, I paid for your fucking book. I actually went through a lot of trouble to get this book into my hands.

Unknown_00: And I really didn't expect to see an advertisement while reading it.

Unknown_00: So randomly after the car crash scene, after I turn the page from the ad, the other side of the ad is this non sequitur. Again we're back into the country. It even says back in the country and doesn't really indicate if time has passed or what's happened.

0:12:05
Unknown_00: So this is like a flashback I think that it's meant to be implied because he's being hospitalized in the chronological timeline of the book. And during that timeline, he goes back to thinking about, I guess, just what country life is like. It's a sort of weird thing about how people in the cities don't appreciate where their food comes from. It doesn't really seem to have a tie-in with the plot. I'm not sure what it's setting up. And I think that the chronological sequencing, how the book is pieced together... The flipping back and forth between different plots and flashbacks and so on and so forth, that is one of the major detriments of the storytelling is that it really does change gears really quickly and go to completely different places without really explaining why. it makes it difficult to keep track of on your first read. So then Avery escapes the hospital and is immediately hit on by a skimpy crack hoe. I believe that's what's happening in that comic.

0:12:58
Unknown_00: And this is one of the biggest WTFs of the entire story, is that he just got his ass kicked. This excerpt from the comic,

Unknown_00: Just smashed him into... Like, literally punched him upwards into the sky so accurately and precisely that he crashed into a superwoman who then held him by his neck and threw him into a car. And then they hospitalized him. And now he just immediately walks back to the club. And it's literally the same day. They explain, like, this isn't my interpretation of the time. He walks from Alliance Medical Northwest, as it says there, back to the club that Darren owns to look for Jasmine again because he now believes that she's there. Well, sure enough, Jasmine is there. He finds her at the club. However, while talking to her, before he can get a clear answer of if she's there voluntarily or held against her will or being sex trafficked or whatever, he is intercepted by Darren's goons. who recognize him as the troublemaker from before. So they call in the except to lay down the second beatdown of the day, and this leads to a really nice, flashy hero shot of them engaging in a fight. However, I posted this as like a high point. I enjoy the animations here. The fight is actually well illustrated. I thought that was very flashy and pleasing to the eyes. But somebody pointed out that in this in particular, you can kind of see that on the left, like it is a very stylized, like emphasized thing that's not, I guess not supposed to be taken literally because immediately afterwards they're running back at each other. So there's sort of like a gap in the action. They're literally about to punch each other in the face and then they're skirting backwards as if they bumped into each other and then just kind of like awkwardly flew backwards onto their feet.

0:14:56
Unknown_00: When that was pointed out to me, that was a bit weird. I did not notice that on my first or even my second read-through. I only noticed that because someone pointed it out to me. So that could just be my non-comic book brain watching this. It did not bother me on my read-through. However, I can see the artistic critique that that shot doesn't make sense in retrospect.

0:15:33
Unknown_00: However, this scene does include one of the best examples of stilted dialogue in the comic. He meets the excerpt outside the fight, and this guy, who is like 7 feet tall, 300 pounds, pure muscle, decides to engage him in conversation before they fight, and this is what he says...

Unknown_00: I told them we should have ensured your defeat, but even I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to come right back. This is why you heroes often end up dead. And then Avery replies saying, I'm no one's hero. I came to your shot collar with respect and was met with disrespect. That cannot be tolerated. I have a sneaking suspicion that they actually were going to fight in real life. Their pre-fight confrontation would sound more like this.

0:16:12
Unknown_00: So, spoiler alert, this time around, Avery does win against the Accept. And as he goes to try and find Jasmine, the police randomly show up and interrupt the fight. And because he doesn't want to, like, kill the police, I guess... He immediately tries to run away, and this is something that I definitely feel doesn't make sense. Like, the cops are right there with their guns pointed at him, and in the next few pages, he basically just skedaddles away, climbs up some scaffolding, and leaves the police, you know, scratching their heads thinking, what happened? But he's literally right there, and they have their guns out, so... I don't know how he got away, and I don't understand why the police are intervening. Like, you know, there's a point made early in the comic book that the police don't like dealing with the weirdos, the superheroes, so that they're intervening in a fight between two ex-subs, you know, where obviously they could easily be killed. um is a bit strange and it only exists to stop avery from finding jasmine uh then and there because he just found her he walked up to her he engaged her in conversation and then immediately put on god mode and beat up the guy he couldn't beat up before so nothing realistically should stop him from just going into the club and being like hey jasmine let's get out of here i just kicked that guy's ass

0:17:50
Unknown_00: But for some reason, the police show up to interrupt the fight. And I guess instead of engaging with them or whatever, he just decides to run away. Again, maybe I'm missing something. There's a tie-in with the cops in the front. Maybe they're crooked or something. I don't know. When I read this, it just seems like the black guy is just saying, I can't talk to police, I gotta get out of here. And he just leaves, and I don't know. I really feel like, logically speaking, there should be some way to resolve this issue immediately than in there. So then there's a scene where Darren gets together his goons for what I call an evil meeting.

0:18:31
Unknown_00: He has assembled his goons to discuss what it means to be an empire, what it means to hold power, and what it means to be disrespected. The theme of disrespect is a very common occurrence that's brought up repeatedly in the very first book that I've read.

Unknown_00: And that's very much in line with Eric July's ethos. Like when he talks about internet drama stuff, the topic of respect comes up a lot. So I think that respect is something that he orientates his worldview around quite a bit. And it shows up if he's writing this. It's like.

Unknown_00: Respect is something that is a serious commodity that is very important.

0:19:11
Unknown_00: And in this, he's saying that Avery coming in to his turf and beating up his except is a serious problem because that lack of respect and that sign of weakness means that smaller organizations will then swiftly move in and take up his empire and break it down. And when I read this, because this is actually split right down the middle, the left hand is him explaining this. And then I immediately think, while I'm listening to his evil meeting speech, why not just give Avery this girl?

Unknown_00: As far as I'm aware, as far as the story has told me, Jasmine is unimportant. She is literally just a woman, and I believe that her only value to his evil enterprise is... as a sexual commodity to be bought and sold so if she's just an asset in that sense surely the most prudent way of dispatching him is to just give him Jasmine she's not worth that much to them

0:20:21
Unknown_00: And it doesn't seem like Avery is on a moral crusade to destroy this evil enterprise. He's only there to get Jasmine. He doesn't even want to be there. He wants to be out in the country farming pigs or whatever. So just give him Jasmine. Wipe your hands of this matter. Say, whoops, we pissed off the wrong guy by...

Unknown_00: Stealing this woman that he's friends with and he just wants to leave and we want him to leave This seems like the most immediate way of resolving this problem however in the very next panel it they definitely thought of that because then the topic is brought up and he also clarifies that if they give Jasmine to him then that would also be a sign of weakness and all the smaller gangs would intrude as if You know he had just walked in taking her by force giving her up voluntarily would also be a sign of weakness and and that doesn't make sense to me because avery is not trying to be without cat his very first instinct was hey i know this guy i know darren from high school i'm or daryl or whatever his name is i'm gonna go to his evil enterprise and be like knock knock hey it's me i know you from high school you have one of my friends one of my friend's daughters in your sex trafficking ring i would like her back pretty pleased with sugar on top And his immediate reaction to that is not fuck that. So, um, that's weird. That's really weird to me. And, uh, I just don't, I don't understand why Jasmine is important to them.

0:21:09
Unknown_00: Apparently realizing that he's up against something much more sinister and larger than he expected, he decides to randomly show up at like a military base or scientific underground laboratory and suit up with his old super suit that he had put away and never expected to wear again. And there's the famous Eric July final panel that is just a picture of him, Eric July himself, self-inserted, saying, we aren't done quite yet. And then there's a weird thing. It's like a Nordic heavy metal group that's in the canon of the franchise, and it's called Norfica because it's like a Nordic-African. It's like half Nordic and half African group. um so it's called Norfica and then there's some teasers for other comics that they want to put out and that's how it ends so all in all um I would say it's pretty unremarkable it's not bad I would like I would give it a five out of ten just because I feel like this what it comes across to me is that Eric July is a guy who really loves comic books and he loves superheroes

0:23:00
Unknown_00: So as an adult, he's like, I want to become a comic book guy because I don't like modern comic books. So you can see that even to me, it feels like there's a lot of tropes of really well-established comic book tropes that are sprinkled into this. And he just wants to write his story in the exact same way that he knows comic books to be written.

Unknown_00: And it's centered around this urbanite story of sex trafficking. And to me, the plot about Jasmine is interesting. Like, I'm curious to know how that resolves. However, all the superhero shit is, like, a needless aside. Like, the stuff about Yira doesn't make any sense. If it was just, like, a story of this guy trying to figure out what happened to this girl, and the police aren't helping because they're, you know, they're overburdened, overstretched, underfunded... And it falls on him to personally figure out what's happened. I feel like that would be a much more compelling story. And a lot easier. Because when you take on this whole universe of superhero stuff. You have to establish a lot. And it's a lot for an amateur comic book creator to do on his first attempt. And it really feels like that. He's trying to do all his favorite things about comic books. um in his first go on his first swing in his first book and it's like you really probably should have just focused on making a comic book with a real story that didn't have all the supernatural stuff and just nail that just really nail that really well and that really would have been a convincing compelling story um So I think that his reach exceeded his grasp, but nothing about this is so offensive to warrant the hate that it gets. And the hate definitely amplifies the success of the comic book. So if I were a guy, and for whatever reason I really, really hated Air July, and I wanted him to be bankrupt and destitute... I would not spend months and months and months promoting his comic book indirectly until other people are forced to physically acquire copies of it legally by paying for them just to see if it's actually worth the hate. Because that is a terrible way to bring disaster to somebody's business when you really hate them.

0:25:33
Unknown_00: If I was somebody who really hated Air July, and I wanted him destitute, and I had spent literally a fucking year screaming about how terrible his comic books are, I would feel like a fucking moron. Because there's literally nothing in this that's like, to warrant that kind of obsession. It's just some guy's first attempt at a comic book, and it shows. It's average and unremarkable.

Unknown_00: All right, that's everything. I'll probably do a review of the second one. Thank you for watching. Thank you for subscribing to Gumroad. If you're a subscriber to the Gumroad, I will see you next time. Bye-bye.