Writer: Brandon Thomas
Artist: Lee Ferguson
Inks: Marc Deering
Publisher: Archaia Studios Press
It’s a pretty rare occurrence for me, especially when I’m talking about comics… but The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury # 295 has left me pretty much speechless. And I’m fairly sure it has anything to do with the jet lag I’m currently suffering from, following a long work trip to and from Mumbai. I don’t think I’ve ever had a comic book experience quite as intense as that one; not necessarily because it is the best comic book ever, but boy does it have an impact. Now, I know it would help if I started at the beginning, but in all honesty I’m really not all that sure where the beginning is!
Just give me a chance to regroup.
Well, I guess it isn’t all that unexpected that this book took me by surprise – not only had I not heard anything about this until it landed on my hi-tech reviewer’s desktop; this is marked as being # 295, despite actually being the first issue in a six-issue limited series. But this is not just an attempt-to-be clever marketing ploy – you are thrown right in at the deep end, thrust into an adventure with characters who are given no introduction, and heck, there isn’t even a Marvel-style recap page to get you up to speed. No, this is no ploy – it is actually just rather clever. I mean, I wouldn’t recommend this as the way to start most new series, but it stands out a mile as an innovative approach. When reading the first few pages, you expect everything to calm down and eventually go into some detailed exposition, perhaps a flashback here and there… but it just never really happens. Things do slow a little, and a couple of interesting character dynamics are brought into play which will no doubt have an impact on the development of this series, but none of it is in the way, or the extent, that you would expect. I know many other comics have played with similar devices in recent years, but I’m yet to read anything that attempts it to this level, and with such success.
So, what actually does happen? Well, Miranda is in the concluding stages of a battle with her possible arch-nemesis, the wonderfully designed and scripted Abraham (though I’ll ignore much on the similarities with DeVito’s Penguin), who wants Miranda to hand over the Ronin’s Riddle, which apparently grants the puzzle solver one wish. Miranda escapes with relative ease, and flees to her ship, piloted by her companion Jack Warning, the ‘Boy with the Golden Brain.’ Jack helps Miranda solve the riddle by employing some questionable methods, which leads to the big revelation that we should – but don’t – already know. If it sounds quite simple, well in effect it is, but just done at break-neck speed, with little hints of the past splintering off here and there under the strain of the velocity.
The artwork is an excellent fit for this book – bright, fun, powerful and perfectly keeping pace with the pace of the story. However, some of the visual storytelling is not always perfect and it is sometimes difficult to make out exactly what is happening in each scene… then again, that pretty much mirrors the tone of this book too!
Thomas deserves real credit for pulling off such a crazy stylistic premise, holding it all together as a coherent piece without needing to sacrifice any of the storytelling tenets which give Miranda Mercury such a high impact factor (and I sincerely hope this approach continues). Also clever is the way in which both creators have crafted something that looks and feels like a kids cartoon, with all the nostalgia that brings, while infusing it with enough mature themes and structures to appeal to a wider audience. If you are looking for something new and innovative, that doesn’t take itself too seriously and bucks the current mainstream trend for dark and heavy stories, then I can thoroughly recommend giving this a try.
Rating: 7.5/10
