Life in Alaska for teenager Teddy isn’t all that great and any excuse to be away from the house is a good one for him. Not because they are abusive or anything like that but because he feels like a stranger in his own home. Which is most certainly a sucky feeling for any teenager to have. At least he’s not out getting himself into real serious trouble aside from breaking into a library however. Of course dear ol’ dad would probably be complaining about his kid acting like him instead of over what he’s actually doing. So that’s pretty much a darned if you do and a darned if you don’t type of situation. This being a four issue mini-series has me wondering all Ollie has planned for it and if there will be more due to the fact Teddy and his family
are in witness protection. Which is some serious business for sure.
Serious business Teddy had no clue about until recently and is confused and mad over the whole thing. Something a lot of folks no doubt would be like after finding out something that serious, even if the parents and Marshal weren’t expecting him to eavesdrop. Which come on now! They should have expected something like that to happen! I like that Ollie Masters is keeping a steady pace with this first issue and not rushing things, which hopefully lead to a satisfying conclusion by the ending. Or perhaps at least the lead up to more happening in the future. The man also certainly manages to pull at your heart strings too during one particular scene sometime after the cat’s been let out of the bag thanks to pictures and social media.
Kind of makes me want to go after that guy for willingly doing that to the little fella, even if he was apologetic about it. Tyler Jenkins’ art and colors is also a pretty interesting choice for this story too considering the water color paint brush style he’s using for this. Granted, Tyler’s art where the dad is concerned gave me the impression of the man being something of a douche bag who is abusive towards his family. Which, thankfully isn’t the case at all. The appearance of the fox (possibly the same exact one?) through out this book is also interesting as Ollie is leaving me wondering about the potential significance of the fella’s being around. Will the fox have a role to play in all this or does he just tend to show up by pure random chance and nothing more?
Course if the fella could talk, he’d probably say something insulting to Teddy at the end of this. Which… Would be hilarious despite the seriousness of the situation. I can only imagine how ‘happy’ his parents are gonna be with him over that mess. Now let’s bring on the next issue cause I’m ready!
Snow Blind #1
BOOM! Studios
Written by: Ollie Masters
Illustrated by: Tyler Jenkins
Lettered by: Colin Bell
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks
Summary: What happens when you discover your dad isn’t the man you thought he was? For high school teen Teddy, life in a sleepy suburb in Alaska turns upside-down when he innocently posts a photo of his dad on Facebook, only to learn he and his family are in the Witness Protection Program. A man seeking revenge invades their town, and soon FBI agents arrive, too. But what if his dad’s reasons for going into the program aren’t as innocent as he says?
Power UP #4 (of 6)
Boom! Box
Written by Kate Leth
Illustrated by Matt Cummings
Reviewed by Derrick Crow
Summary: Amie Bloom is a 23 year old store clerk at a pet shop working under a stressful boss and simply going through life. She seems to have a good outlook on it though, and takes everything by the flow. Until one day she gets struck by a mysterious light along with one of the goldfish in her shop. After that, things became much more complicated…
Review: This was definitely the best issue yet as we really get to see our wayward heroes really start getting into their powers. We also get a great looking villain, my favorite yet of the ones we’ve seen so far.
Last issue ended with a cliffhanger that perhaps Sandy’s marriage may take a rocky turn now that she has powers. However that really doesn’t factor into this issue at all as we get just a bit of conversation about the aftermath of it but nothing more than that. Now, you can argue we didn’t need to see the conversation but generally I would’ve liked to have in order to justify ending the last issue on that.
But I’m really loving our main heroes and their quirks. They are starting to be more comfortable with one another and play off one another really well. I’m excited to find out what Amie’s true power is since hers is still a mystery to us. We get to see a bit of it this issue as she helps Kevin create a more powerful attack against the villain.
I have no theory on what or who the villains are but I am curious to know more about them since we find our this issue that they’ve waited millions of years for the star to die that gave all of our heroes their powers. There are so many questions right now but I’m sure Leth and Cummings will give us satisfying answers in the end. The worst thing would be if they ended this mini-series without giving us all the answers. Like keeping Amie’s power a secret still, and leaving the explanation for a sequel series.
I continue to love the art of this series. The villain this issue was really well designed, and I like Geoff’s (Kevin’s weapon) upgraded look in battle. There’s a lot of imagination in this series that I feel Leth and Cummings are putting to great use.
Power UP continues its impressive march towards the end as the series continues to impress me more and more with each passing issue. If you’re not reading Power UP, I suggest you go get issue one and catch up before it’s all over.
Final Score: 4.5 Names for your Magical Weapon of Choice out of 5
Power UP #5 (of 6)
Boom! Box
Written by Kate Leth
Illustrated by Matt Cummings
Reviewed by Derrick Crow
Summary: Amie Bloom is a 23 year old store clerk at a pet shop working under a stressful boss and simply going through life. She seems to have a good outlook on it though, and takes everything by the flow. Until one day she gets struck by a mysterious light along with one of the goldfish in her shop. After that, things became much more complicated…
[SPOILERS!!]
Review: I really, really love this series. Dang.
Okay so each issue up till now has featured a different fight with a different alien race, and I’ve been trying to peace together how everything is connected but little pieces of information just out of my grasp. It’s left me thirsty for answers and this issue we get them!
Leth and Cummings scale back the story to show how everything came to be, we get to meet some aliens who remind an awful lot of general shonen manga villains. I’m mostly reminded of Yu Yu Hakusho in this instance. However we find out later that they may not be villains after all, and I’m curious to see how they will really mingle with our heroes.
We learn of a prophecy that has reverberated across the cosmos for many years. That’s where these 4 aliens come in who believe they embody those who will be chosen at the chosen time to receive the powers our heroes end up getting instead. When it seems that the prophesied occurrence has happened elsewhere several alien species flock to Earth in order to steal those powers, thus the different races we’ve seen throughout this series so far.
There’s also great commentary in-story about how language, and especially prophecies, can change over time due to oral stories and mistranslations. It’s even more of a hassle when those prophecies are told over the course of eons throughout the galaxy. We still don’t get the answer as to WHY our main characters were chosen, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
We also get answers for Amie and Silas’ powers. One that has remained a mystery, and the other which we didn’t know he had that power all along. Sandy is the embodiment of strength, Kevin is the embodiment of Spirit, Amie is the embodiment of heart, and Silas – the goldfish – is the embodiment of sight or omniscience knowledge. I love that Silas has the limitless knowledge of the universe and he can’t possible share it with anyone because he’s a goldfish. It’s a lovely oxymoron for their situation and sets up the next a final issue nicely.
I’m genuinely curious to see how this series comes to its end. And whether or not we can trust these “good” aliens or whether they’ll try to steal everyone’s powers in the end like so many others have before them. Only one issue left to go!
Final Score: 4.5 Mistranslated Prophecies out of 5
