By Dustin Cabeal
There’s a lot of cornball comedy that’s undercutting what’s a serious premise to Little Guardians. Hopefully, that’s something that’s toned down as the series progresses in favor of a more balanced back and forth between the comedy and drama.
Usually, a zero issue is bullshit. It was the industries way of giving you a preview with a cover. Rarely are they important to the series and almost always they’re just there to sell a cover. Little Guardians #0 does not exist for any of those reasons. It is a prologue, and by the end of the issue, it’s clear that the narration is going to shift and the story is going to be set some time after the events told in the issue.
It’s a fantasy world that we’re introduced to, but we don’t quite know at the beginning who is narrating the story. It becomes clear by the first cornball joke, so fear not. The village, Little Guardians, is set in, has a protector who is obviously called “the Guardian.” His wife is pregnant and about to give birth, but he’s called away to fight a demon that’s threatening the town. From there the story intercuts between the battle and the woman giving birth. There’s another family there giving birth as well, which doesn’t seem important to the story until it’s important to the story.
The corny jokes aside, the rest of the story is quite interesting. Clearly, it’s being set in a time before technology which makes aspects of the story possible. You dump this into modern times, and suddenly the story is different. The writing sets the stage for dealing with old school thoughts on what a woman’s role is in the world, and hopefully, this will be expanded on more with the first issue. The dialogue is believable and flows quite well, even the jokes. It would just be nice if the same joke wasn’t used five times in the issue. The rule for comedy is three, after that it’s overkill.
The art is different. It’s not a style you typically see with fantasy stories, but it seems to work for this issue. The action was easy to follow and flowed very well. Sometimes newer creators can struggle with giving the art enough room to breathe, but Little Guardians is well balanced with its story and artwork. The coloring is muted and earthy, which gives the story an “ancient times” kind of vibe. It could stand to be a little more vibrant, but it’s not terrible in the least.
While this is a good issue, for the most part, it still must prove itself all over again. That’s the only real problem with an epilogue; it doesn’t give you the best idea of what the next issue will be like regarding the story and narration. This review won’t judge it on that, but it’s something to think about when the first issue releases. Hopefully, Little Guardians will live up to its own expectations, the expectations set in this issue.
Score: 4/5
Little Guardians #0
Writer: Ed Cho
Artist: Lee Cherolis
Colorist: Dann Tincher