STORY BY:Â Scott Lobdell
ART BY:Â Jordan Gunderson
COLORS BY:Â Valentina Pinto
LETTERS BY:Â Josh Reed
COVER BY:Â Jordan Gunderson, Khary Randolph, V. Ken Marion
PUBLISHER:Â Aspen Comics
ReleaseDate:Â 04/08/2015
Issue one, volume one is always a great place to start with a book. As the book opens, we are introduced to Gia Sorentino, who in her crazy like ramblings, claims to be the first daughter of the earth. Â Following her parents plane crash, and despite being on enough medication to knock out her horse, she demands her release. Once out, she meets a mysterious benefactor in Mr Conklin and is whisked of to the parental home which is a privately owned Pentagon. From there, Gia sets up in the family business and to do that needs some help. Enter air and fire.
So we have the set up of a good versus evil book, with the four elements (water is turning up next issue) against a great evil. Â Writer Scott Lobdell may be trying to create a world, but with so many archetypes in play, I am not sure that there is enough originality left to hang a story on. It may well be interesting to see how the quartet interact, especially given the natural animosity water and fire should show each other. If, on the other hand, they all become friends from the get go, the book may lose some credibility.
Jordan Gunderson is the artist and with so many female characters will have a job on his hand ensuring that one attractive girl looks different from the other attractive girl. The line work is clean and in part reminds me of Ardian Syaf or maybe a less voluptuous Ed Benes. Â The digital inks on the book took me a little to get used to, like watching a special effects laden film in HD, they are maybe too clean.
Regular readers of my reviews should know my opinion of Lobdell and some will say “why review his book if you don’t like his work?” That is a fair question. As a reviewer I give every creative team the benefit of the doubt regardless of the past. That said, this book for me, is just a little to stereotypical, both in concept and its imagery.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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