I don’t know how BOOM! does it, but they have constantly been adding to my pile of floppies for two years now. I don’t know any other publisher has had the breakthrough in my pile quite like BOOM! I think what adds to the magic is a combination of all-ages titles, great writing, detailed art, and overall fun atmosphere. Feathers captures all of those things in a nice warm bowl of soup. Feathers can be read by anyone. Usually with a kids’ comic, it is hard to completely dive into the story because you feel like you should be reading this to an elementary class. But with this mini-series, I can jump right into the story and not waver about my satisfaction of the plotline. Jorge Corona knows how to capture his audience and give us a flavorful helping of narrative. Poe is just a great lead to have along the way too. He is young, but I think anyone can relate to not fitting in or just wanting to escape. Or we can relate to Bianca of wanting to see what is on the other side. And of course then you have the over protective dad and throw in multiple villains and bam, you have got a good story.
Last month, we left with Z tricking Poe and Bianca. She is working with the guards to get the “mice” or her people back. Think Oliver Twist with the setting for this one. Clearly the guards are not going to as Z says, she’s a nobody to them and since the mice are supposedly wreaking havoc in the Maze, it is time to gather them all up to be put away.
As said before, the story is just this though, Corona has thrown a lot of villains at us. And with Bianca being of royalty, Feathers has offered some great writing beyond face value. A lot of layers get peeled back with Feathers #4. One of those is the mystery man dressed in all black. We still don’t have a name or a face for that matter, but he is starting to play a major role in the Maze now. Along with the guards, I think this man has do a lot with the complexity of the Maze and its name. What reasons he is after the Mice is something we still don’t know, but I do think it has something to do with The Guide. This is another character, or I guess abstract idea that we are in the dark with. Poe seems to think that the Guide can help him. Just like the rest of this mini-series, Corona will not give us what we expect from the Guide. The comic is unpredictable which all ties back to being loved by all ages.
What ties it all together is Corona working on the art too. I talked a lot about Poe last time and how much I loved his depiction, so this week I thought I would give some credit to Jen Hickman with her colors. I just love the color scheme. It has lots of dark blues with browns. The overall portrayal of the “dirty” Maze comes across only with her colors. Then when we get flashes of the City, we can see the bright whites, blues, and pinks that make everything look so refined. But the best part of this issue was the creepy man’s scarf. It was a vibrant red. Since we don’t see his face, it was almost like the scarf gave off his facial expressions. And then when the background would pop to all red too, well it just added to this man’s allure.
Everything about this comic just fits. All the elements put together make this on my best reads each month. BOOM! knows how to pick a good story and stick to it. So I look forward to having some more fun in Feathers and with newcomers at BOOM!
Score: 4/5
Feathers #4 Writer/Artist/Creator: Jorge Corona Colorist: Jen Hickman Publisher: Archaia/BOOM! Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/1/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital