Heroic Publishing 2017
By Dennis Mallonee & Henry Martinez
Based on an Idea by Bradley Parker & Daerick Gross
Coloured by Albert Deschesne
Lettered by Dick O’Malley
In the aftermath of victory over the Lords of Chaos, Icestar, Giant, and the Nemesis Girl thought they were on their way home. So how did they end up in Kansas? And wait a second. What's a prehistoric jungle doing here smack in the middle of a wheat field, complete with dinosaurs?
First of all if you haven’t been following Heroic Publishing I have to ask why not? I mean this is all kinds of classic comic book adventure fun! The dialogue and the story itself are inspired and the spotlight on these members of the League of is spectacular. Seriously that Jay-Na Queen of the Jungle is also Giant’s mother who kind of gets lost in her role is beyond what you should come to expect out of a comic book.
I keep telling you all that fun hasn’t left comics and that it’s still possible to tell modern stories and make them feel like they are classics. Dennis and company strive to do their best time and time again to bring us some of the finest if most unknown entertainment around. Where else can you get a serious story that centers around chronal displacement, the resurrection of extinct animals and a potential showdown with some mortal enemies? Oh yeah and where are their missing teammates? Hmm a lot is going on here and all of it is the thrilling kind of fun that made superheroes beloved world wide!
The story structure here is excellent. We get the right ebb and flow to the story filled with action/adventure and the kind of downtime storytelling that allows for characterisation outside of the usual quips that come in the midst of battle. The pacing, the reveal and the whole thinking out your current situation/dilemma is done extremely well here.
I gotta hand it to Henry and Albert here for their work on the interiors. I love the creativity and imagination that’s on display here. How page layouts are utilised through angles, perspective and the use of backgrounds, specially in the fighting scenes, really helps tell the fuller story here. Plus it helps with the characterisation which is extraordinary to see. Oh and just the whole classic look of superheroes again makes me so very happy.
With the story as it is and with a great cliffhanger ending take a chance and find this one, talk to your shoppe or subscription service and have them get it for you. It’s a nice jumping on point even though it's in the middle of a story it’s also the beginning of a new one. This is a perfect chance to see and understand how three diversely powered individuals can work together to make a formidable team.
Fox Hunt is the back up here and it’s by Dennis Mallonee, Ulderico Fioretti and Dick O’Malley. I like these backups because it’s a nice sneak peek into the lives of the other hereos and heroines that inhabit this world.