New Masters #1, from Image Comics, bounces us into a new sci-fi world. Or new worlds, to be more precise.
Shobo Coker’s story starts off with a young woman on her futuristic motorcycle, rappelling down into an old mine. There is said to be things of value down in the ruins of the abandoned dam. Okay, they’re after obsidium, a rare substance. It’s a brilliant kick-off and makes us want to know more.
But trouble hits the reader immediately. We’re a bit disoriented, which is no big deal when we are with our young scavenger, doing a deep dive into a mine. But she is speaking to her robot companion, swerving around in the dark, throwing around terms and names, and doing an ‘info dump’, all at the same time. It’s too much to handle.
Overall, the artwork by Shof Coker is beautiful. The world-building is awesome, the vistas amazing. The expressions, body poses, and use of black shadow and colour are well handled. In the city environment, there is an encyclopedia of fascinating surroundings filled with unique characters. But the reading experience bogs down as we are obliged to decipher the direction of the story. Panels don’t flow, the sequential images are jarring, disconnected. “Is that a leg or an arm? What is going on? Where am I supposed to look next?”
This title, from Nigerian brothers Shobo Coker and Shof Coker brings us a multitude of points of view, scene upon scene of bewilderingly creative images, and it switches locations on the fly. And while the sheer magnitude and imagination on display is astounding, the reader is left to catch a clue, catch up, follow the leader, and hope for the best. New Masters needs a steady hand on editing and presentation. The fact that there is no editor name on this book seems to indicate that the Coker brothers were solely responsible for guiding the contents, no easy task. Hopefully, they will get help in honing in on the essentials, keeping things coherent, and simplifying the message: this book is a real treat and just needs more attention in pacing and continuity.
Image Comics, New Masters #1, $3.99 for 33 pages of content. Teen+
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