Impossible Jones #1 from Scout Comics introduces a true ‘anti-hero’, a young criminal who gets powers and is mistaken for a superhero.
It’s written (and inked!) by Karl Kesel (Harley Quinn etc), pencils are by David Hahn (Batman ’66 etc), colours by Tony Avina.
First, then, the really great things about Impossible Jones: #1; The art is amaaaazing. The gestures, the angles, the character movements, the expressions, the everything. The colouring, the lettering, (Comicraft) so rich and gorgeous. #2; And the sheer complexity of the plot, with its witty dialogue, the retro references, the plays on words, and #3; Kesel’s ability to meld and bend story elements into something quite unique.
But unfortunately, it’s not all good news. The issue is a confusing affair. Reading it is like hanging on to a bucking bronco. Plot points get buried in cleverness. Who is the hero and who is the criminal? We misunderstand what is happening, get thrown off the horse, and need to dust ourselves off. There are flashbacks within flashbacks. There are tiny characters shown in tiny panels who we are supposed to notice as we sort out the plot. There are subplots that interfere with our following the main story. Characters pop in for a quick cameo, and we don’t know if they are significant or not. Woe by to the reader; this book needs unraveling and reorganization to see its full potential.
There is hope. Maybe in issue two, now that the cast has been formally introduced, we will see a forward motion, a sequential storytelling arc that we can sink our ‘parody-loving’ teeth into!
Scout Comics, Impossible Jones #1, $3.99 for 30 pages of story content. Advisory rating
Newsdesk
Thanks for the review, Alan, and glad you like David’s art— so do I!
As for the confusing story: well, *I* don’t find it confusing, but I think the hardest part of writing is making sure what’s in the writer’s head actually makes it to the page. So you may be right. I’m hardly objective in this case.
All I can say is: everything’s there for a reason. Stay tuned and you’ll see. The only ball I drop is Persephone, who never really gets involved with the story the way I intended. I’ll take full blame for that.
KK
I appreciate your feedback to the review, Karl. I know it’s not always easy to read comments about one’s work, especially where tastes and preferences can be so divergent. I’ll be sure to check out the second issue; Impossible Jones has a ton of potential! Cheers,