Tidalwave Productions 2016
Written by Chad Rebmann
Illustrated by Pedro Potier
Coloured by Mariana Flores
Lettered by Ben Gilbert
The time traveling, dimensional hopping multi-character (creator owned) crossover comes to an end this issue. This has been a lot of fun to read as many of these characters wouldn’t normally find themselves meeting each other and the creativity of Chad to write a tale that does is great. This is one of the ongoing reasons I enjoy reading books from smaller publishers, they’ve got talented folks who love the genre and it shows in their work.
We open in the late 60’s as Judo Girl is facing off against Hepcat and if anything this makes me want to see more Judo Girl in the future. She’s fun, spunky and let’s face it any hero wearing gogo boots is okay in my book. She unknowingly stumbled upon a case where our three traveling heroes have taken a keen interest. Thankfully what happens here isn’t your normal hi there we’re time traveling heroes and we’re your friends but let’s fight first. Instead it’s okay let’s team up and do this right. It’s the kind of writing where it showcases that heroes can be trusting and have experience in things that while don’t make a lot of sense their instincts say it’s all good.
I love that Badger is a part of this, yes his series at Devil’s Due/1First has been awesome, but the classic character here with 10th Muse and Mercury has been a real delight to see. The banter that may be odd to Judo Girl is great for the reader and I like that Chad can infuse personality and characterization so effectively in his dialogue.
There’s a great subtlety to the story as well. While giving Hepcat the microchip, which as per Judo Girl’s explanation is a “new” technology from Japan, was a daring thing to do. So following him and sneaking into the base where Mr. Steel is a very sly move. This is just fun, remember when it was the good guys vs the bad guys and the heroes had to work for the win? Instead of all this inner angst and outer mistrust of each other this goes back to basics and it’s a great example of why costumed heroes captured our imagination and our love.
Really rather impressed with Pedro’s interiors as well. He’s got a good solid eye for storytelling using the pages and panels for the flow of the story. HIs attention to detail is great and his style mixes that old school comics with high end animation extremely well. His use of backgrounds is nice and a different approach when we see them but really showcases his imagination and creativity. The colours are great by Mariana and like her use of shading so they’ve worked well together here.
For me this is the kind of story and comic that I remember buying as a kid, but now as an adult the subject matter is much now. It’s a great thing to see that you can evolve and grow in storytelling without having to jump on trends of what’s happening elsewhere but stick to your guns and put out something that’s just fun for everyone.