You Missed that Issue?! Corrective Measures Volume 1

It's another addition of "You Missed that Issue?!" where I talk about a comic you've probably never heard of and need to read! Corrective Measures Volume 1 was published by Arcana Comics back in 2008. The first volume collects the first six issues of Corrective Measures and with each issue (dubbed "chapter") comes more thrills, mystery and fascinating characters. I was given the chance to enjoy the story yet again when I participated in Comic Bin's Preview Weekend. You can find the full volume at their site here (for the monthly price of $8.99 for hundreds of other comics plus this gem). But, without further ado and advertisement, onto the madness of Corrective Measures! In Corrective Measures we explore the dark souls locked away in San Tiburon, a prison that contains metahumans. But the inmates aren't the only ones who are "dark." Readers get a sampling of screwed-up individuals to enjoy and these characters don't feel like the same rehashed people, but very different individuals who all share some dark mindsets. At first I thought a new guard at San Tiburon, Brody, was the main protagonist. However, each chapter has a different character's narration and mainly focuses on them as a result. When this first happened when I was transitioning from chapter 1 to chapter 2 (the weakest chapters of the whole volume, by the way) I was a bit thrown-off and disappointed that I wouldn't be getting more from the main character of chapter 1. But as I read further I realized whenever I thought I didn't want someone's story to end, the next character would come in with a new twist and character that intrigued me. Thankfully, since I discovered Brody was not as interesting to me as some of the inmates. That is writer Grant Chastain's greatest strength: evocative characters that you might not always like as people, but you enjoy as characters. The small touch of making their narration boxes different colors was also great since it really drills in the readers mind that this is someone new. I loved how most of these stories seemed to play a part in the bigger picture with the only exception being the story of "The Conductor" – but it was such an enjoyable chapter I don't care in the slightest. The story revolves around the characters and uses San Tiburon as their playground. It is a setting you can do a lot with and Grant Chastain takes full advantage of that. Sometimes there is a lot of dialogue, but it's more than balanced out with interesting characters, stories and some strikingly profound moments from Chastain. The only problem I have with Corrective Measures is Jay Moyano's artwork. The characters have a lot of lines and Moyano never takes advantage of making the prison look particularly horrific. It's the next best thing mood-wise: dull. If you have a problem with violence and cursing, don't check into San Tiburon. In particular, chapter 6 starts with terrible insults – if they wanted to piss the easily-offended off, this is the perfect chapter to do it with. But it's a prison, so what would you expect? But if you want a violent, philosophical smorgasbord of psychos to enjoy... welcome to San Tiburon. You will enjoy your stay. Let me know if you'll be picking up (or have picked up) Corrective Measures in the comments below and what you thought about it. Also, if anyone's interested in having me review each individual chapter, I'm considering it, so let me know! You can see a nine page preview of Corrective Measures Volume 1 on ComicBin here.