Dynamite Entertainment 2017
Written by Marguerite Bennett & Christina Trujillo
Illustrated by Maria Sanapo & Mario Torrisi
Coloured by Ceci De La Cruz
Lettered by Thomas Napolitano
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Sheena acts as guardian and protector, defending her home from any threats that might dare present themselves. Without warning, the delicate balance of Sheena’s world is shattered forever by the arrival of an outside force greedy to get its hands on the ancient secrets the forest holds. Now Sheena must protect her home from a menace unlike anything she’s ever faced before—one threatening to tear the jungle apart from the outside…
I am loving this series right now! This issue solidifies why so now she and Chano are encountering the creatures responsible for the deaths I got to say this adds that missing element to the story. I thought okay maybe the pyramid was haunted or booby trapped and that’s why the arc opened the way it did. Now we learn the truth behind the opening of the story and it’s much more fantastic than I could have dreamed it would be. The ladies are doing a monstrous job in bringing Sheena and her world to life here.
I was worried how someone like Sheena could be brought into the present and make it seem logical or natural. So that where she lives is remote and isolated and protected by the government helps to settle the how and why she and her tribe have flourished here since the First People settled the area. I think then being able to move forward to tell the story about a company buying off the government and getting to mine forest. That conflict alone would have been enough but then when Sheena has that revelation or epiphany about the job of protecting the forest everything goes to epic level proportions.
We all know what this company is doing is illegal and that the government cannot have witnesses to question what is happening and these men who threatened the village concerning the surveyor that was just a reconnaissance mission to see what they would be up against. I knew they weren’t going to let anyone live now everyone does. But can she trust these men to work with her after what the company has done? That remains to be seen.
Not going to lie I miss Moritat’s work. Absolutely nothing against Maria and Mario but a fill-in artist will always feel like a star was replaced mid-season on a television program. Backgrounds are used throughout and that’s important as it helps expands the story and gives perspective for what’s we see. The use of page layouts with their angles and perspective is nicely used. One thing y’all need to keep your eye on though are faces, they need to be the same face each time we see the character and that doesn’t happen here. Eyes and noses change and take on different shapes or placement so fyi just keep that in mind.
I like that this story took the turn it did, after all fighting on two fronts is almost impossible for Sheena to handle. Though it may come to that still we’re worry about that bridge once we need to cross it. The her tribes Elder tries to shush her at one point was interesting because we aren’t sure if he was trying to save these men that were on the verge of shooting them or because of the talk of the First People. It makes you begin to wonder and see the shape of her plan though it isn’t what we think it is.
The structure of this book, it’s ebb & flow if you will is so strong. The way we see the development of the plot and story unfold is woven through nicely and then add in the characterisation that we see and you’ve got an extremely strong story happening. Forget the fill-in illustration because that’s throw-away stuff here because the writing is that good you can get past it.