Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Indy Comic review: MAJESTIC XII #1


MAJESTIC XII #1



Majestic XII issue 1 cover by =spidey0318 on deviantART

MAJESTIC XII #1
A new comic series by Odyssey Comics

Justin Leach hit me up on DA and asked me if I would review his comic. I felt honored that he would seek my opinion on his work. Knowing what a labor of love sweat and tears comic book creation is I was surprised at how readily he put himself out there to have his work critiqued. I got the book in the mail and was impressed by its quality.

Majestic XII is a story about a hero named Legend who comes out of retirement after serving his country for years and disappearing into obscurity. The feds show up at his door and ask him to rejoin the fight against evil.Legend shaves and gets back into his old uniform and meets his new team, which is comprised of some old friends and a bunch of super powered convicts with a lot of different personalities. The team is immediately thrown into conflict with their mortal enemy a villain named Anthrax. They fight, Anthrax gets away and the table is set up for future adventures.

There were some things to love about the comic, and some things to critique. The book has a lot of characters and sometimes it is very easy to get confused about who is on the page. The writer did and excellent job of giving multiple characters their own voices and personalities. I really felt the book could have done more with less in that fewer characters would have given much more time to focus on some of the myriad interactions that are going on in the book. A flaw of the book is the transitions between panels. Sometimes it was very hard to follow what was going on where. I had to reread a few pages to get my bearings., Some of this seemed to be because the writer had SO MUCH that he wanted to say in the story. I can’t fault him for that, as that is also a problem I have in my own comic book writing.

Those things aside the art by Andre Kilian is pretty top notch and the colors by Omi Remalante Jr is amazing. I understand that this is the first book and It definitely needs room to grow, it has some things that work well. Legend is a strong leader who immediately jumps into the fray. Anthrax is a pretty crafty villain who has potential to be a thorn in the team’s side. The differing personalities on display lead to a lot of tension between the characters that is illustrated pretty well.

I especially liked the character Legend, because he has similarities to my character Gravitas. I believe he also manipulates Gravity, plus he is a no nonsense hero type. There are many characters on display in the book, and i am sure there is a favorite for almost any personality type.

I recommend the book to those looking for some new characters who actually do some fighting like in the early nineties when comics weren’t all talking heads and splash pages. Justin has a pretty good thing and he should really keep at it. Justin has a pretty good thing and he should really keep at it. It is a really strong effort, and as a person who knows how hard it is to produce a full comic he does a bang up job. I think the characters are there and any flaws will improve as he gets more time for the narrative to breathe and grow.

You can buy this book on Indy Planet. Click here:

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