I was actually pleasantly surprised by this superhero story starring kids. I’ve said too many times that comics have plenty of superhero titles, so in order to stand out you need to deliver something special. This has a Saturday morning cartoon quality to it that successfully creates a world that’s interesting for the reader, even if everything is a bit predictable. I would definitely say it’s geared for a younger audience and not a true all-ages title, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t find something to enjoy about it.
The story starts in the thick of things as a school is under attack by forces unknown. Jamie Baldwin is hiding in his home room when Captain Zoom lands next to him. He’s basically a dude in mech armor and you can think of it as a cross between Iron Man and countless Animes. He calls his daughter to come get Jamie and she flies him out of there. Along the way though, her suit becomes damaged and she crashes. She’s stuck in the suit so it becomes up to Jamie to fix her. He rolls her over and the voice guiding her in the suit begins walking him through everything. After that Jamie’s mom and dad get a divorce and his father leaves (because he works for Captain Zoom). Jamie begins tail spinning until his mom sends him to live with his dad for the summer.
It’s pretty straight forward that everyone at the Darian house is hiding the fact that it’s the Captain Zoom headquarters, but that’s the charm of the book. While it’s obvious, it’s still interesting. The journey to see what happens to Jamie and his relationship with his father is the drawl.
The story itself is well plotted and strongly executed. The dialog can be pretty generic at times, but overall it serves its purpose. I hope that in future issues the characters become more fleshed out and talk naturally. Sure it’s just another superhero story starring a kid, but really it’s something that the “big two” rarely do anymore and if they do, the kids just act like adults anyways.
The art has its strengths and weaknesses as well. The pencil work is very soft and clean. There’s no excess of details which at times makes the characters and settings look generic. The suits though are packed full of details and look very cool. The coloring saves the art a lot with the quality lighting effects.
It was a good story and very entertaining, but if you’re not looking for a superhero tale then you might want to pass on it. Since I’ve moved away from the superhero genre so much with my reading habits, I was able to be entertained by the story and world. If you’ve grown tired of the dark and edgy superhero titles then you might want to give this issue a shot since it returns the genre to a simpler time.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Justin Peniston
Artist: Ramanda Kamarga
Publisher: Big & Tall Tales
Price: $.99
Release Date: 6/5/13