Written by: Jason Latour and Ivan Brandon
Art by: Greg Hinkle
Colour by: Matt Wilson
Lettering by: Adita Bidikar
Published by: Image Comics
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A new creator owned series from Jason Latour, one of the masterminds behind Marvel’s Spider-Gwen, and Image’s Southern Bastards, is reason for a lot of excitement. But add fellow powerhouses Ivan Brandon, of Drifter and Vikings, Greg Hinkle, of Airboy, and Matt Wilson, of The Wicked + The Divine, and this is a book to be thrilled for.
The team doesn’t waste time in kicking the story off. After a brief prelude, showing the world of imagination and dreams seeping into our own, we meet Zelda, a homeless woman on the streets of New York. She’s more than homeless though. She’s actually from the dream world, and can travel between our world and hers. But she left her world with enemies, and one in particular, a silhouette accompanied by a black cloud, has her terrified.
Zelda is a bit of a cipher in this issue, and unfortunately that makes her come off as a manic pixie dream girl (literally). Latour and Brandon make it obvious that they’re going to delve more into her backstory very soon though, so that quibble is fairly minor.
The world building, however, is phenomenal. The dream world is a fully realized construct, and those inhabiting it are surreal and, in some cases, terrifying. Zelda is presented there as a master naviagator, and absolutely the person you want to be with when there. I really look forward to more there.
Hinkle’s art perfectly accompanies the story. Even in the real world, it’s slightly surreal, and a little disquieting, and the dream world is even more so. Wilson’s colors add to it, with splashes of beauty in the middle of the surreal. It’s a perfect pairing.
With a little more character world, this is going to be a strong and incredibly fun series. You need to get in on the ground floor.
Rating: 7 /10
Tony Thornley is a Mormon geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, amateur novelist and all around awesome guy. He was born and raised in Utah and has been reading comics since age five. His first comic series was GI Joe and he was doomed from there. You can follow him on Twitter @brawl2099.
