REVIEW: WEASELMEIZTERS #1

WEASELMEIZTERS #1
Story: Brentt Harshman
Art: Kamil Boettcher and Lukasz Marko
Letters: Keith Perkins
Colors: Kamil Beottcher
Publisher: Coast Comics
Release Date: December 7,2014

WEASELMEIZTERS#1 from Coast Comics is the story of Bill, Isaac and Nikola, a trio of bounty-hunting weasels, and their adventures in space. In the same vein of 90s-era anthropomorphizing cartoons such as The Cowboys of Moo Mesa, Biker Mice from Mars, or Street Sharks, the weasels show a penchant for uniquely human pastimes, like watching soap operas and gossip TV.

Almost immediately after seeing the title of this book, I knew I was in trouble. The title let me know that I’d have to suspend my disbelief beyond its already fairly loose level, even before I’d cracked it open. And I was right.

The premise itself is a little too silly for my tastes. I’m usually pretty good with stretching my imagination, but something about space-faring weasels is extremely far fetched, even for me. That said, this book may work for younger audiences, say 8-14 year-olds; I just can’t get past the absurdity of it.

The book isn’t really poorly written, but the trite back and forth dialogue never really captivates as it should. At times it feels as if the characters are trying either too hard to be serious or too hard to be snarky. The story is told in third person, with no omniscient narrator, and we’re constantly moving from perspective to perspective, a technique that works against creating any atmospheric immersion in this book’s case. There are some world building elements, as the ‘meizters search the galaxy for their latest bounty, an evil crimelord named Vornheimal, eventually landing on the ocean planet Diveena.

The weird thing is that due to the color scheme, the planet looks more like Tatooine than say, Geonosis. So again, we’re pulled out of the story and left to wonder why a waterworld appears to be essentially a barrenÂ desert wasteland, with no explanation given. Speaking of the art, it’s a little unpolished but not horrible. The ink is heavy-handed, and sometimes has a sketchy quality to it. Conversely, outside of the odd choice to paint an ocean planet tan, the colors do pop for the most part.

Overall, after finishing the book, I felt confused, but definitely not in a good way. Maybe later issues will clear up some of the shortfalls that this one suffered from, but I probably won’t stick around to find out.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

By: A.C.

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Adam Cadmon

Adam Cadmon is the pen name for a man who has been writing for a few years. Heâ€™s done his share of straight-laced writing, college press, blogging, some other not very glamorous technical writing to keep the bills paid. Itadakimasu.