The Review
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| Image courtesy of AWA Studios |
It starts with the main character, Oliver Leif, in hero garb
saying how he can be superpowered for only a few minutes a day and jumping
through a city skyline to save a woman falling…with no clear building nearby
for her to have fallen from. Then it jumps, I’m assuming, back in time to him
and his family arriving at school for his mom to drop him and his older jock of
a brother off.
We’re told, both via text and via actions, that Oliver Leif
does not fit in. He’s kicked onto the ground getting out of the car by some
bullies that pass by. It gets no better for him as the day goes on. His
drawings get seen and made fun of, he runs into a grumpy teacher, he stands up
for a pretty girl to a teacher and is told to stay after class and write his
thoughts on the topic of discussion, etc. There is a brief light where he meets
Bijou, Beej, who gives Oliver the rundown of the town and school and wishes him
luck.
You also find out that Oliver’s dad is gone, I assume dead,
his mother moved them out to this town for a job that was a scam, his mother is
most likely an alcoholic and despite saying that this move is the chance for a
new start, but everything seems to be the same.
Oh, and some guy named Doctor Peters shows up and DEFINITELY
doesn't seem sketchy at all.
Then at the end, one of the teachers that has been snubbed
and bullied realizes that he has the ability to make others do what he says (by
making the principal jump out the window by accident).
Nothing else out of the ordinary happened…except for that
one thing. Oliver met Kristen walking her dog and little brother in the evening
and then a giant, mechanical, squid-like thing burst from the ground. Oliver
uses his powers to save the other two and freaks out afterward because if
anyone finds out, "they" will come for him and hurt his family.
There's some connection to his dad and that problem.
This was a lot of fun and shows a lot of promise. I
recommend this book.
High Point(s)
- Effectively the best parts of Spider-man without worrying about the baggage of the character.
- SO MUCH world-building in a very short time.
Low Point(s)
- Could feel a little rushed at times
- Some of the word bubbles are a little crowded and could do with being slightly larger to give a better border between the text and the edge of the bubble.
The Editing
There’s very little that are problems in this book. The
first two pages feel so distanced from the rest of the book that if they don’t
bring that into every issue, it’s going to feel weird. The two pages could have
book-ended this book to remind you what’s going to happen in the future (if it is indeed the future) as an
additional option.
The angle and style of sound effect make it hard to see
what's going on in the first panel of the third page. Not impossible, I realize
he's just falling hard on his face, but less clear than it could be.
The rest of the issues are just the various instances of text getting too close to the edges of dialog bubbles.
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