Joyride Vol. 1 by Jackson LanzingMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I love comic books, and the ones being created today try hard to attract all kinds of readers. I picked this one up from Netgalley and all in all, it's a fun and entertaining read.
Typically of today's publishing industry, this is YA - the protagonists are kids fighting a dystopian system. They have the weight of the world resting on their shoulders, but thankfully our protagonist, Uma, is drawn to adventure and not saving the world. By her side is loyal friend (and secret admirer) D, and unwilling participant Carin. There's an alien robot and a dour alien thrown into the mix as well.
Action-packed from the get-go, we learn much about the characters through their reactions to situations. Unfortunately, the writers of this comic are not imaginative enough, and we fall into cliched traps of storytelling soon.
Much is told to us through expository dialogue and everyone but our protagonist appears to be hiding a convenient secret. Uma finds out about Catrin's while the two girls are lost in space. As always, they are rescued by the male member of the team.
There's plenty of unnecessary angst thrown in and a particularly harsh statement hurled by Uma at D, which, in all honesty, would mean the end of any friendship in reality. Let's not forget the family drama. There's daddy issues, sibling issues - it's rather unoriginal.
The characters intone in American CW-show-newspeak, which is irksome to read. It would have been fine if only one of the characters spoke in that fashion, but they all seem to do that.
Love the art - again, not the most innovative, but clean and clear and aids the story deftly. However, the art didn't showcase any diversity in the characters, which I'm guessing is what the writers wanted. That's a surprising choice to make in the 21st century.
As YA, I think there are certain comic book readers who will definitely enjoy this and want to get stuck into the next volume; for me, however, this just didn't grip me enough to want to find out any more.
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