Reviewer: James Hatton
Story Title: Lost & Found Part 2
Writer: Ben Avery & Mike S. Miller
Pencils: Mike S. Miller & Greg Titus
Colors By: Lynx Studio & Greg Titus
Letters By: Bill Tortolini
Edited By: Mike S. Miller
Created By: Mike S. Miller
Publisher: Image Comics
When you come up with an imaginary friend. They have purpose in your life. They fulfill a need that you don’t have. Like Marcy the Squirrel who always gives you hugs. Like Roy the Builder who has been there ever since your father left with some ‘hussy’ (at least that’s what Mommy calls her). What happens when you grow out of these childish dreams and fantasies?
Do they go away? No. No they don’t. They go to a land faraway – and they miss you. Remember them now?
You are such a prick.
STORY!
Superhero G is hanging around the world of the Imaginaries. He is seriously a cat out of water, dressed in his Clark Kent-esque duds and running around looking for something … anything.
He runs across a mouse. A cute little ragged-eared mouse named Melee who came from the days before talkies. Cartoons about a mouse weren’t all the rage until Uncle Walt hit us in the face with his 3-circled giant. Melee was a pop star that one boy loved so much, he breathed his own life into him.
As time wears on, though, his owner got older – as we all do – and Melee’s been roaming the lands ever since.
The rest of this book is all explanation. We learn that the world has a leader named the Ice Queen. The teddy bears of childhood imagination are the guards of the world. (The explanation is that these bears end up having so many children who love them over the world.. they go a bit batty. (Kind of like Scarlet Witch – go read my House of M review)). There is also a machine that lets you see your former ‘owners’ lives.
Pretty neat bit – but Tanner’s (his former friend) life just has hit rock bottom, and it isn’t so much he grew out of Superhero G, as he has just become a mopey Radiohead loving whiner. SG needs to save him, but that’s the sad fact of this book… once you are in… you probably won’t get called back.
ART!
The art of Imaginaries is what stands out above even the writing. It’s bright, vibrant, and as crazy as you would expect it to be. If you look over panels twice, you begin to see various other details that you might have missed out on the first time. Droids, Wookies, Dinosaurs, Snakes – all humanized and looking cool as hell.
OVERALL!
Issue two is what most every issue two is – not solid, but not horrible. It walks you through the details that you need to know before the story gets moving into high gear. If it wasn’t for the perfect cartoon style of the book, I might have even been a bit bored with it. Not so much as to do away with the book, but it’s exactly what I expect out of a second issue.
It is a great concept book – and I look forward to see all of the different creations and creatures that the team of Avery, Miller, and Titus bring to the table.
