By Sam King

Zinnober #1 sets up a strong direction for the story and provides enough character development to give readers a good latch on the mains. The art is good, and the story has a lot of promise. Giant dragons in modern times? What could be better?

Zinnober opens up with a young woman and a man on top of a roof with guns, eyeing a dog tied to a post. The girl wants to save it; the older man says it is a trap. She doesn’t listen, and it turns out to be a trap, but the trap goes sour as a dragon appears and starts laying waste to everyone it sees. The man and girl escape with one other guy and go into the old subway tunnels where they find that dragons may not be their only concern when it comes to survival.

I thought this was a really good setup as far as story goes. Everything was straightforward without revealing too much too quickly. The pacing was well done, and the art is very clean. The setting of this comic is London, and it is easy to tell given the architecture and the iconic Ferris wheel in the background. The art is clean, and the settings are distinct and clear. Every character is easy to recognize thus far.

The pacing is good, as the story progresses fast enough without being confusing or missing important information. There isn’t too much exposition, which is awesome. Everything that the reader needs to know is provided in good timing and with excellent judgment on how much is needed to be told and how much can just be shown.

I would really like to read another issue of this series because there seem to be a lot more dangers in the world than initially believed at the beginning of this issue. First, you think that dragons are your main problem, but people end up being a point of conflict too. Humans may even be multiple points of conflict when you consider that two different groups of people cause trouble for our main characters. I liked that there were three divisions of characters overall: the heroes, the militaristic group using the dog as dragon bait, and the people in the subway. Each group has their own dynamics and motivations. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening with the subway people since there seems to be a lot more to them than we know so far. I also want to see where the tag-along ends up going in the long-term scheme of things. Will he prove useful or will he just be a hindrance that needs removing? Will he become the main character or just dragon fodder?

This story has a lot of promise. It has been a little while since I have read about dragons in modern time (if I ever have, as I can’t recall any comics or stories immediately off the top of my head). I like the idea, and the initial issue did a good job in getting things rolling. This is one of the better first issues I have seen in a while, so I’m excited about that. I hope it does well and that the story continues because I do want to see where it goes. I recommend giving it a try if you think it might be something you’d enjoy or don’t mind giving a chance.

Score: 4/5

Zinnober #1
Scout Comics