Joe Benitez Productions 2016
Created & Written by Marcia Chen & Joe Benitez
Penciled by Joe Benitez
Pencil Assists by Martin Montiel & Mun Kao Tan
Inked by Joe Weems
Ink Assists by Ryan Winn
Coloured by Studio F’s Mike Garcia
Lettered by Comicraft’s Michael Heisler
Not quite the Chosen One nor was she raised a Hunter, via Supernatural, Melanie Moore was once a normal teenage girl with normal high school problems till one day all that changed. That nowadays stories that deal with things that go bump in the night be them demons or old gods are commonplace so it takes something unique and extraordinary to stand out in the crowd. I’ll say this much not only does this stand out in the crowd but it shines ever so brightly too. Not just from the insanely good interiors either, I mean you need to check out the colours in this personally to get that full effect.
This is a fantastic first issue. For those who don’t realize this it is a retelling of the original story from 2005 presumably with some tweaking to the work. Hence the Redux in it’s title so for those who didn’t see this the first time around or weren’t aware of it then here’s a perfect opportunity to really sink your teeth into one heck of an interesting story. So this issue starts off with a narration of Melanie as the hunter and prey she’s become and we see how she is now and learn quite a bit about this life she leads while still being left in the dark about a lot of it. So yes there’s plenty of room for exploration and reveals along the way. What it does is open the door to the reader to wet the appetite.
The bulk of the issue however deals with Melanie and seeing her before she becomes that person who opens the issue. Her relationship with her father, how school is treating her and well let’s just say it’s High School and she’s something of a wallflower, and we see her at work. So all of this is in stark contrast to the girl/woman we see in the opening. It’s great because we know a transformation is going to take place and personally it excites me because it’s such an extreme transformation that you marvel at the concept of how to move it in that direction and wonder how long it will take.
We are also introduced to albeit briefly to Brother Valin and Zanshin. They are an ancient order that protects the world from those creatures man has forgotten about while also finding, training and inducting those destined to be in the order. There’s a ceremony taking place that is supposed to have Brother Aegeus only he’s in Marinette, Louisiana. Coincidentally the home of Melanie. As things are bound to unfold while visiting her mother’s grave at the very cemetery Aegeus is fighting at and he’s mortally wounded and inducts Melanie on the fly as it were to save the power he wields from simply disappearing.
The amount of characterization here is marvelous to see. We get a whole sense of who’s who and what’s what and we know that Melanie is about to undertake a monumental journey that will forever change who she is. It’s enough to get you into things while still leaving so much open ended that the need to see what transpires is there. Wonderfully written and GORGEOUSLY illustrated this is something you should be on the lookout for! I don’t know if this will be the original six issue run or if it will continue on after that but i’m seriously hoping for the latter.