Scout Comics 2017
Written by Ed Cho
Illustrated by Lee Cherolis
Coloured by Ginger Dee
This is a great all-ages title and while yes it may be in the vein of a Dungeons & Dragons setting that doesn’t mean it isn’t spectacular. Personally I love that this has that small town/village feel to it that mixes elements of what we know today such as the local store being like a convenient store that are all over the place. The the big event going on right now is a Zucchini Festival and it’s a big deal. I don't know why but the best coming of age stories always take place in settings like this.
We meet Subira whose father owns the store and he’s grooming his son to take over the family business someday, well okay grooming is a strong word it’s because he’s a son. So while she may be smarter and a harder worker being a girl is something that well is a detriment to her and I like seeing this early on because I have a feeling that as the story progresses she’s going to prove that being a girl is meaningless when it comes to being a hero.
Meanwhile in another part of the village we see a farmer trying to get ready for the festival when something goes awry. It would seem there’s something strange afoot in the village that will make itself known at the Zucchini Festival and we’re getting a preview of it now! I like this mainly because it’s really the artwork that sells it. It has this kind of Dragonball Z effect to it where we see the farmer being ensconced by flames as if it is fueling some dark rage within him. So it really stands out and is admittedly fun to see.
Meanwhile the village champion is training his son who just doesn’t appear to have the aptitude for fighting. There’s a reason for this and if you missed the zero issue like I did then you’ll have missed that Subira and Idem were switched at birth and are living each other’s lives. Which explains what we see in this issue and I have to say there’s a nice symmetry to how things are shown to us. I like the actions have consequences as we see them happen thought the characters have no idea about them.
As for the interior artwork here well it’s very all-ages and it’s very now. While I miss the days when cartoons and all-ages comics had better animation and more attention to detail Lee manages to capture the mood, tone and feel of the characters rather nicely. While the shop owner is a sexist and an opportunist we still see him all smiles and upbeat and realise he isn’t like this cause he’s a bad person just ignorant. It’s nicely done and the way it flows through the issue shows a nice eye for storytelling.
I actually think there’s a lot to learn from this. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, try hard and things will work out for you, never give up on your dreams or what you want and keep an open mind and you’ll be surprised what you are capable of. Even when things seem like they are crashing down around you keep hope alive. We’re going to see the lives of all these characters change here soon enough and how they deal with these changes will tell us a lot about them. Plus the characterisation is strong and the characters likable so it's easy to get into the story and find yourself really liking and caring about them.
It’s high time we saw more all-ages offerings that everyone can enjoy and relate to and it’s nice to see Scout knowing this too!