Wherein Mulan begins to truly change.
Creative Staff:
Story: Marc Andreyko
Art: Micah Kaneshiro
What They Say:
With her ancient ancestral power awakened, Mulan now enters a fierce struggle against the dark forces that wish to oppress her country’s people! But in order to preserve a delicate cosmic balance, the omnipotent immortals may be forced to intercede!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though a bit convoluted in some ways in terms of setting up some of the foundations, I mostly enjoyed the first installment of Mulan Revelations. Working with a concept like this in moving something forward to the future and applying a mix old school material and science fiction is something that generally appeals, especially when involving Mulan, oni and more. The book felt light in really explaining some of the concepts of how the world works, but often that can be fleshed out relatively quickly in the first few issues. Especially since it’s such a different kind of future in a way, though you can make some easy leaps of logic to bring it all together. With the second issue though, there’s a sense that hits me by the end of it that this is a book that may read a lot better in marathon form.
What we get here is a whole lot of running around now that Mulan has been awakened by her uncle. With events having caught up to them and now things moving, Mulan’s in the same kind of position as the reader for the most part, not a bad way to go overall, in that she’s not sure what’s going on and even less so once her uncle “activates” her with a code whispered in her ear. Having her glow purple and transform with a whole lot of energy around her is definitely a visual treat, but it fits into the story as well in that he’s working to get her to accept the shared past that she has, something talked about previously, and to realize that she has to be a truly active and large participant in what the future is. What this in turn changes the bulk of this issue into though is essentially an extended chase sequence.
Which isn’t bad as there are some really good scenes and Kaneshiro’s artwork sells it well, though it’s heavy on the darks to remind us that this is a Bad Future we’re looking at and Mulan’s purple glow offers a chance at something more. The action sequences work well and Mulan does her best to understand her abilities and to fight, but even then there are issues, such as her uncle getting captured and her only escape comes thanks to the American we saw previously briefly. Providing balance to all the action in the second half are some curious things going on, but it again reminds me of the need to marathon this series. The oni are going through their own motions in trying to capture her and are excited that they at least have her uncle for now, but we also see those from the past as part of their grand plan going on about how this is the last chance to do anything about the fate of the world – and some of them aren’t even sure that’s worth doing.
In Summary:
Though I enjoyed the first installment of Mulan Revelations, it wasn’t without some hesitation about the overall project. The ideas are ones I like but the execution was too familiar and without enough depth to really sink your teeth into – and that’s a necessity when dealing with a story that at least feels like it needs some serious world building going on here. This issue doesn’t add a lot to that overall as half of it is focused on fight and flee while the second half teases some of the elements on the bad guys side without really establishing things. In a sense, the book reads as though it should be read continuously from issue to issue and without enough in the quick reminder department for those that read monthly. That can turn the book into a chore sometimes, even as much as I hate the text boxes sometimes that brings the readers up to speed. They’re a useful evil and could have been useful here to make the overall flow of the book better.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 29th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
