I’m not a big fan of taking classic stories and placing them in different eras. That said, I actually liked 451 Media’s newest series NVRLND, which takes the story of Peter Pan and drops it into the modern era in Hollywood. More specifically Hollywood High School. Maybe it’s because I’ve finally admitted to be a “local” of the L.A. area or maybe it’s the fact that they nailed the look of the high school perfectly, but the story spoke to me. I don’t know if that will hold true for everyone, but… it worked on me.
The gist is that Peter and the Lost Boys are a band, Hook is a tattoo artist with a metal hand that also sells drugs. The drug of choice? Fairy Dust of course. There’s a spike in deaths as kids, mostly teen girls, all under the age of 18, have been falling to their death after taking the drug. Wendy Darling’s family has just moved into town and her father has promised to clean up the streets. That and everything is really sexy. It’s like Peter Pan meets Hollywood.
The story makes sure to introduce all of the key characters, but it does this at the sacrifice of a slow build up. The opening happens much too quickly and the pacing never changes from there. It comes across as panels are missing. For instance, two characters fight and their fight happens without any build up; they just look at each other and then it’s go time.
The art is solid. The characters are all recognizable throughout the issue and have a solid design. I appreciated the fact that it’s set in the modern era and that the art reflects that. There’s nothing worse than when the art makes the story look dated because of how the characters are dressed. The fight was, again, the only thing I had a problem with, it jumps all over and the characters have goofy faces when they get hit.
All my gripes aside, I’m strangely curious about this series. I think it says more about a comic when you want to read more, than anything else. If I can look past your faults and just enjoy what you’ve created ,then you’ve made a good comic. Peter Pan meets Hollywood doesn’t sound like it should work, but it actually does.
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