Ok, I really enjoyed Issue #1 of this future version of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft who apparently has the same legendary status as the aforementioned two, but who dropped it all to live a rather mundane life now at the age of twenty. No one really knows why, so the assumptions is that she might be kind of a slacker or something, rather than the last of a family of super adventurer types which is what she is supposed to be. It would appear this way as our hero, Ms. Kate Kristopher just kind of wants to skate through life. Unfortunately for her, that simply will not be possible as she apparently is being pursued by fans, ghost ninjas, dire warning giving robots and a whole assortment of other funky fixtures of this bizarre world of tomorrow. It all spells from some pretty cool entertainment from the mind of writer Joe Keatinge and the wickedly delightful artistic renderings of Leila Del Duca. Now if you thought that Keatinge and Del Duca had pulled all the stops and threw out all of their interesting offerings in the first issue…Well you would have been gravely mistaken. The fans, ghost ninjas, et al are still here in Issue #2. But we have new offerings such as the Mahees Lane Gang, a group of old school Irish gangster lions, some mice monk types, police hover crafts, gorilla medical staff, demonic skull centipedes, etc. etc. All are played out on the canvas of this great new city. Things are different. Things are funky. But things are quite entertaining and fun too thanks to Keatinge and Del Duca. This new world is fun and interesting.
The story in issue #2 flows in the same way as #1. The reader is tossed here and there with a flashback thrown in to add some curiosity. We know there is a reason that Kate no longer does her adventure thing. We know that something happened to her and her father that has her now alone in this world. We also know that there are several rather interesting things trying to get her. For what reason, we don’t know. But we do know that they mean business and that there may just be some family involved all the way around in all of these events too. Of yeah, we get quite a nice little tidbit of things to come at the end of this one. Keatinge writes it magnificently as he creates an action packed story that uses the action in a very subtle way that never seems over the top. It is a nice effect that Keatinge deserves a whole lot of credit for doing. I mean, ghost ninjas man. How can that be subtle? It is though and it is wonderful.
Del Duca has an incredible gift of drawing this story covering such fantastic and bizarre characters, but making them look perfectly natural and acceptable in this world. Sure, there is a Gorilla doctor there, but it is and it’s all right. Sure, there are ghost ninjas and old school Irish gangster lions. But they get arrested like anybody else. Del Duca makes the unnatural look natural and she flat kills it in making this title deliver as one interestingly entertaining comic. I had a fun time reading it.
Shutter is a story that has not quite got started as of yet, but I have already been dazzled by it. I have no idea where it is going, but I know that I am going along for the ride. I have seen more sheer creativity crammed into two issues that I can’t help but to want more. I can’t wait to see what will happen next. The one thing for certain that I know is that it will be creative.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Joe Keatinge Artist: Leila Del Duca Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 5/14/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital