A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #1 by Rick Remender and André Lima Araújo is a tense thriller with an ending that’ll have fans thirsting for more.
Being at the wrong place at the wrong time can change everything. In A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance, an unassuming man coasting through life finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place when he stumbles across a violent murder scene. The book’s first issue is a tense, methodical read that plays to the strengths of co-creators Rick Remender and André Lima Araújo. It sets the stage for the next great thriller from Image Comics and ends on a cliffhanger that’ll leave fans thirsting for more.
A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #1 opens in Vancouver, British Columbia. A man named Sonny leaves his Chinatown apartment and goes through his day, encountering other citizens as they try to make it through their day-to-day lives. After bumping into a man at a convenience store and encountering a dying pigeon on the street, Sonny takes a bus out to a secluded house for an unknown reason. However, when Sonny walks through the front door, he sees that the people he came to see have been brutally murdered with household goods. As Sonny realizes he’s been set up to take the fall, he races out of the house and into the rainy night sky. Little does Sonny know, he didn’t cover his tracks as well as he thought.
A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #1 is written by Rick Remender, who is known for his Image Comics series Deadly Class and Scumbag, in addition to ushering in Sam Wilson as Captain America. Remender’s plot is straightforward in this first issue, as he slowly sets the stage for Sonny’s pivotal discovery. Sonny is a quiet, but complex character. He’s somebody who clearly holds back a lot of emotions and frustrations. He shows consideration towards an elderly couple but is also quick to yell at a random passerby for a minor inconvenience. Remender chooses not to give Sonny any internal narration, which allows readers to imagine his thoughts as he goes about his day. This allows for some deceptively deep character work, despite the minimalist script. Readers are passengers in Sonny’s story as much as Sonny is a passenger to the horrors derailing his life.
Joining Remender is artist André Lima Araújo, known primarily for his work on various Marvel books including Spidey, Avengers A.I., and the Secret Wars tie-in for Spider-Verse. Without a question, this is the best work of Araújo’s career. The slim script means that much of the story relies on Araújo’s art for readers to invest in Sonny’s life. Araújo gives Sonny a quiet, contemplative presence throughout the issue, as his weary eyes look out at a world that confuses and disappoints him. The character also bears a striking resemblance to actor Benedict Wong, which is likely not a coincidence when considering his previous role in the TV adaptation of Remender’s Deadly Class. Beyond Sonny himself, the streets of Vancouver are well depicted, with detailed storefronts and realistic architecture that grounds everything in reality. This attention to detail is both a blessing and a curse, as it makes the landscapes feel beautiful before switching to a horrifyingly vivid depiction of death.
Also worth highlighting are the stellar contributions of colorist Chris O’Halloran and letterer Rus Wooton. O’Halloran uses a muted, flat palette that emphasizes the mundane and realistic aspects of Sonny’s story. These colors bring Vancouver to life, particularly when Sonny walks through Chinatown or into the convenience store. For his part, Wooton’s letters help highlight the simplicity of Sonny’s existence. Wooton has previously used bombastic lettering for action-oriented books like The Walking Dead and Invincible but chooses to lean back into quieter, smaller bubbles here. He also uses immersive lettering for the book’s sound effects, such as a steaming teapot that travels from one panel to the next.
Overall, A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #1 is a strong first chapter of the newest Image Comics thriller. It emphasizes character over action, only to reveal its true intent in the final pages. Rick Remender and André Lima Araújo are supported by a strong creative team that applies thought to every page. If the previews for future issues are anything to go by, Sonny’s life is about to come apart at the seams as A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance lives up to its title.
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