Eve Valkyrie #1
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Eduardo Francisco
Dark Horse Comics
The first few pages had me thinking a bit of Top Gun in space, mixed with the Star Wars attack on the Death Star, with an overriding feeling of a rogue in charge.
To me that was enough to catch my attention fully.
A story around fighter pilots in space has always been a favourite; from the original Starbuck on the original Battlestar Galactica, to Firefly and even elements in the new Canadian scifi Dark Matter.
So a comic book on the theme is something I want to read.
That Eve Valkyrie is written by Brian Wood just heightened my interest. While Northlanders because of an interest in Vikings was up and down in terms of storytelling, the best of the series was very good.
And DMZ gets rave reviews from many too.
While Wood isn’t an iron clad lock to author a gem, he is always worth a look, and through issue #1 of EV he lays out a story with enough plot threads to have hooked me for issue #2.
There is the discredited father who dies a shamed man.
Then the main character Ran appears to have died, but doesn’t, or … well that part is not answered.
Eduardo Francisco’s art might not win awards but it doesn’t detract from the book either. The word serviceable comes to mind.
Now EV will have to find a higher gear to become a classic read, but as a first issue it caught my attention to the point I recommend if you like books with a military in space theme.
Jupiter’s Circle Vol I
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Wilfredo Torres
Image Comics
With books like Starlight and Chrononauts, Mark Millar is fast becoming a writer I will search out.
So when I had the opportunity to read Jupiter’s Circle I jumped it to the top of the must-read pile. In this case I read the six-issue run as individual books, but since the easiest way for a reader to grab this fine series is with the collected volume, the review covers the set.
And now on to the meat of the thing as they say.
The series is set in 1959 and into the early 60s, which as they say, was a simpler time — or not.
The story centres on a superhero team of six, who defend the world from all sorts of threats.
While that is cool, harkening back to an earlier age in comics, which as a 55-year-old reader is a bonus, it’s not the fight scenes, or world saving that is the story focus, or what makes this a series I recommend.
Instead, over three, two-issue story arcs, look behind the scenes at the lives of the heroes.
And these heroes have secrets and warts and that is why the book rocks.
One, Blue-Bolt, is a homosexual, in an era when that was still a huge taboo. J. Edgar Hoover uses that as leverage to try and learn the secret identities of the team.
Another arc has The Flare falling for a 19-year-old without powers, who he falls in love with, in spite of having a wife and kids. It’s a story that rings truer than most better than bacon heroes out there.
It is the look at the lives of these characters when they aren’t thwarting a major threat that was the joy of reading this one.
So, if you like superhero stories, but crave ones which are just a bit different from the norm then check out Jupiter’s Circle Vol I.
