Terry Moore's Echo #1 Abstract Studio |
There's nothing quite so nice as making it home from a long day at work and finding a comic you've been dying to read sitting in your mailbox. Such was the case tonight as I opened my mailbox to find an envelope from Abstract Studio. Inside was a copy of Terry Moore's Echo #1. It is a good Friday night!
Upon pulling it out of the mailer, it was so fresh that it still had that new comic, freshly printed smell to it which always takes me back to my comic shop days. I had to read it immediately and what follows is the quickest any comic has gone from being in my hands to being reviewed on the site.
That cover... I had seen the cover on the internet (and even here on the site), but a digital image really doesn't do it justice. The silver foil here (which usually just doesn't come off well on a comic) is amazing as it makes the cover pop. It compliments rather than overwhelms the art.
When it comes to art, Moore's work is a bit of a standard against which I measure other art. When it comes to my personal taste and preference, seeing the lead character Julie presented here is dead on target for what I enjoy in a comic. And the art, throughout the issue, does not disappoint.
Echo opens with a quote from Albert Einstein and a military-style flight suit being put through its aeronautical paces. Through the issue, we're introduced to the original pilot of the suit (though it's questionable whether we'll see more of her), a scientist named Foster (who appears to be responsible for either creating or, at least, putting the suit through its paces), a park ranger named Dillon (already a likable character) and Julie Martin (aka Jules), our heroine. Julie is a photographer who we learn is a bit financially down on her luck and also struggling with finalizing a divorce. She is immediately humanized just as the unexpected enters her life.
All the interpersonal elements and characters are presented smoothly and efficiently in this first issue. I was expecting this aspect of the story. What I wasn't expecting was the more science fiction elements of the later part of the issue. I had made a bit of an effort to avoid much of the pre-press for this issue. I knew I was going to read it and wanted to approach the story with a totally unexpectant eye. I can't say what I was expecting, but the almost heroic imagery toward the end of the story and where this tale is headed puts me in a place where I don't feel I've been before with Terry Moore's work. That said, I like this new place.
I'm pleased to see Terry Moore branching out in a few new directions with this story. It's clear there is a government conspiracy afoot from the word go and Julie appears destined to be caught up in it all. What role some of the other characters will play is still to be seen, but this issue sets the stage nicely for the series and shows how Julie is, quite literally, attached to the tale that follows.
Immediately, it's clear that the story has a very different setting from Moore's previous Strangers in Paradise work. The art feels familiar, but the terrain here is anything but what we're used to seeing. If Strangers in Paradise had to end, this already feels like a bit of a welcome follow up. I have to say, it is really great to have a book by Terry Moore back in my monthly reading pile. This story is one I will follow, issue by issue, start to finish. Having read the first issue, my interest has been grabbed and I look forward to what follows.
Page last updated on March 22, 2008