Kate Christopher turns twenty today. On the surface of things, that doesn’t sound like a very big deal. But this is Kate Christopher! The wunderkid who was raised by two super adventurer/explorer parents to be a great super adventurer herself. She has gone on many big time adventures, and she apparently has written about it which has made her all the more popular. There is only one thing about this story that you don’t know. ..Kate Christopher may have been raised to be a super adventurer and explorer, but she doesn’t want to be one. In fact, she never really wanted to be one. So we are now here on her twentieth birthday. Issue # 1 of Shutter is what happens next. All I can say about it is that it will surprise, it will entertain, and it might just be a comic that you need to pick up in the near future. From the super writing mind of one Joe Keatinge, and utilizing the artistic talents of Leila Del Duca, a new Lara Croft blueprint for the future has been made that shows great signs of promise in this first rendering. What makes it so intriguing is that this Lara Croft of the future doesn’t want to be. In fact, she really doesn’t know what she wants to be. She just knows where she has been and now is seeking an adventure for direction that just happens to be littered with some real interesting tidbits here and there.
I give Keatinge a whole lot of credit. It would have been easy to follow the path most travelled. Take an adventurer and build on that as nearly half of the comics out today deal with things like that. No, Keatinge takes this girl who has been exposed to every adventure there is, and he makes her reject the lifestyle, a very nice touch here. Then adding to it is this much further in the future world that is filled with all sorts of curiosities, especially its inhabitants. The location is New York City. Just there are a whole lot more aliens around everywhere. Real aliens, not people from other countries. Add a few tidbits here and there like interactive cat alarms, floating dirigibles, and interesting news stories on TV and you have a world at your fingertips.
Del Duca blows the art up making this futuristic world quite believable and interactive with very nice attention to detail. It really makes for a good first issue. And I must say that with the introduction to some folks at the end that shall remain nameless for this review. They are kind of cool and drawn to total perfection.
Shutter #1 is a good opening issue to a title that has the potential to be a real good one. The gauntlet has been dropped for young Kate and now she must decide what to do about it. Even with all of the adventures that she has already experienced. It looks like what happen s after here might just be the grandest adventures of them all as they look to be quite personal in their undertones. We shall see.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Joe Keatinge Artist: Leila Del Duca Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 4/9/14