Reviewing A Dream!
Hello Everyone! I'm back after a bit of a hiatus and so glad you're joining me again! The focus of this blog for 2014 and beyond is expanding to encompass all elements of living a magical life...mine, yours and everyone else's! So, what does reviewing the first Episode of a brand-new Comic series have to do with a magical life? Imagine being asked to review and write your opinion on a good friend's and fellow-artist's dream-come-true! Chris Jones and I have known each other through CONvergence, a Science-Fiction/Fantasy convention (of which he is an original founder!) for several years. I've admired his visual artistry for years and was honored to receive a digital copy of his latest project, Parallel Man, for review. I am not really a comic book geek, though I do have my favorite characters that I've followed off and on for years (Raven(original series), Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and a few others). Being an artist myself, I do have an immense appreciation for all things visual and so it is from that perspective that this review will be written!
Parallel Man-Episode #1-Invasion America The premise of the Parallel Man series is this: “Imagine infinite Earths scattered across a vast multiverse... on one of those Earths...the United States developed the ability to travel through the multiverse...and were forced to annex other worlds for their very survival...unfortunately for us, our world is the next target...” Page 2 of Episode 1. I could see why this project was so intriguing! Imagine having dozens of worlds with which to set and draw the story!!! Each world would be fantastic in it's own way and have it's own unique wonders, dangers and unknowns! This amazing multiverse and the story that takes us through it is brought to life in gorgeous colours, excellent visual detail and laid-out in a clear manner. Bouncing through so many worlds whilst introducing us to characters that have enough depth to encourage us to care about them (and the story) is no easy feat, especially when some of those characters are not human (Artificial Intelligence, dinosaurs and time-traveling, oh my!). It was easy to follow the action of the story and fun to see happened on the next page. I especially loved the visual artistry of the holographic things such as the AI, the time-traveling bubbles and so forth. It seems to me that it would be easy to muddy the colours or the picture of what is happening behind or around the bubbles (or AI, etc.) and yet the details are crystal clear.
I have to give a shout-out (and a sigh of relief) to the portrayal of the high-ranking female soldier/villainess! She was drawn as you would expect a soldier to be outfitted for inter-verse travel and treated as such. No ridiculously skimpy costumes, impossible poses or anything else that would detract from her character and the story. THANK YOU! In summary, reading this episode was a treat! The storyline is unusual and unpredictable enough to hold my attention, the characters are easy to relate to and, again, the visual artistry is stunning. I would highly recommend stopping by your local comic store and pre-ordering this series. On second thought, since this is a new series, call your local comic store and make sure they it in-stock for you (and others) to purchase. You won't regret it! Ciao!