Bonnie Lass is a new comic from Red 5, written by Michael Mayne and Tyler Fluharty. The issue is the first part of a story entitled The Legend which sees the title character and her two muscle bound sidekicks go in search of The Eye of the Leviathan.
The focus of the issue is on a battle for a scroll that Bonnie possesses. This leads to a series of battles with some rival pirates. The first, which takes place in a saloon, is rapid and amusing, as Bonnie is mistaken for her pirate father, Cutlass. There are another couple of fight scenes as the rival pirates give chase, once they realise who they are really up against. The amount of action in the issue benefits from Michael Mayne’s fun and vibrant cartoony style, including some fantastic facial expressions of fear and frustrated bemusement.
The art is fairly consistent throughout, including a couple of great double page spreads that show some real adventure and scope to this story. The character designs work particularly well, with overly muscular pirates and Bonnie herself with her heaving bosom. This adds to the fun and makes the issue more entertaining. The only slight problem is that the colouring appears to be blurry on a few of the panels, but this doesn’t detract from the overall quality.
There is also some quite funny dialogue, especially the scenes where Bonnie sees herself on a Wanted poster and goes mad at the inaccuracy of her chest and the inadequate reward on offer, and a moment during an escape where one of her fellow pirates make one of the longest getaway speeches ever.
Overall the issue is very good. The style of the art and the wit in the dialogue is great. Also there is more to the book than what on the surface looks like a traditional pirate tale (albeit with a female lead), as the book mixes a pirate lead character, with an almost western tone and some modern day perks, such as computers and a pirate ship with nitrous boosters. There is also a hint of a more complex story, with honour and glory on one side and deception and deceit on the other. All this makes for a thoroughly enjoyable comic that gives a lot and promises more.
9/10
“Bonnie Lass” debuted on the comixology (http://comics.comixology.com — iOS, web and Android) and iVerse (http://www.iversecomics.com – iOS, PSP) digital platforms on December 22. Issue #1 is a plus-sized 34 pages long for just $1.99.
