Local comic artist Kevin Colden’s story “Fishtown”, based on a true story, tells the story of four teens who commit a horrible murder. The comic, which was published online and can still be viewed here , has been picked up by IDW publishing and will be released as a graphic novel in November.

After reading the online version, what surprised me most about this story were the main characters lack of remorse. Colden’s use of expression and acting for his main characters is subtle, making these teens read more like hardened criminals than your average teen.

I was impressed that I was continuously interested in the story even though I found none of the characters to be likable. None of them appeared to have any redeeming qualities. These are rotten kids, but much of their problems stem from their alienation, either at school or even from their parents. Adults in this story are hardly ever shown completely. The best way to think about it are those cartoons where the kids’ parents are represented by nothing more than a pair of legs. They’re around, you hear their voices, but there’s no real connection to them.

Emotions rarely seemed to show, even during the murder itslef, which is by far one of the most disturbing sequences I’ve read in a comic. It’s impact greatly heightened by the perpetrators total lack of feelings. What’s even more disturbing is the reason for the murder doesn’t stretch any farther than for these kids, they just didn’t have anything better to do.

If you’re looking for something a little more mature than the average comic, I would definitely recommend “Fishtown”. According to his interview with Newsarama, Colden has gone back and tweaked or reworked some of the pages and added some new artwork for the published version.

Via Newsarama (thanks BRiAN)