Sometimes you never know who will be an ally … and who is the enemy.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Joe Tyler
Artwork: Carlos Granda
Colours: Jorge Cortes
Letters: Fabio Amelia
What They Say:
For decades the U.S. Government has covered up the existence of dozens of species of dangerous creatures that have been captured over the years. After building a small, secretive city on a remote island in the Pacific, these monsters were transported there to be studied.
In 2012, disaster struck and the island was evacuated. Now the inmates have taken over, and different species fight for control within the city walls. However, something extremely valuable was left behind on the island and the only way to recover it is to send an elite mercenary unit into the most dangerous place in the world … Monster Island.
Content (please note that portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kelsey, Merrick and the rest of the team were looking for Xorn’s people, as hopefully new allies in this alien land. But when his race finds them first, all is not as they had hoped. It has been five years since he last saw them, and though he used to be the head of the tribe, that is not so anymore. The animosity they have felt for the humans who had experimented on them is still fresh, and it has been allowed to fester over time. And now two of the scientists who tortured them have returned along with their absent leader – one must prove himself against the other to show that he still has the respect of his society. But how can he without killing the human? Is there a way to win the trust of both sides?
However, as this conflict is being settled, the other major force on Monster Island is making her own plans – the Elf Queen. She too has seen that the force screen is disintegrating and is not one to let such an opportunity pass by unnoticed. Over the years, many of the warring races in the facility have gathered under her banner, and as such, her resources have expanded to include many helpful attendants. Their ingenuity has allowed her to devise a plan to leave this land and it is ambitious in its audacity. But, she too is massing her forces to capture the prize that the human is after: the cyclops that Kelsey has named Cy. His strength is unrivaled and would make a great addition to her army, but this cannot be the reason that both sides are after him. Although they may be after the same goal, their objective cannot be the same … or can it?
In Summary:
It is not an encouraging observation when writer Joe Tyler starts the issue by pointing out that Kelsey does not know any of the supporting characters’ names; that same mistake is only multiplied since we as readers do not know them due to a lack of name reference in the conversations. To have the writer point this out and then have more of the lesser actors meet their end in later panels just seems that he is trying to sabotage the title. In addition, the team came ashore with a limited group and yet with every issue, a few more members die; how are they supposed to make it to the end if more people are killed by the creatures and there are no more reinforcements? It isn’t bad enough that Tyler is still using a plot torn from many other survivor movies, but to mix the two generalizations just makes it worse for both.
The one element that tries to compensate for the story is Carlos Granda’s dynamic artwork. The way he paces the narration keeps the action moving, even if it does lack any abundance of frenetic fight scenes which are substituted for dramatic scenes of sneaking around; the title would suggest more of the latter, but when we were subjected to the cinematic pacing of the first issue, that should have set the attitude of the series as a whole. While Granda’s illustrations are still amazing with anything he portrays, it is a shame to have him sacrifice his frenetic drawing style for more background set up to future events.
The story seems to be picking up, but the pacing is dragging the tension down to tolerable levels instead of keeping us on the edge of our seats. When we think something exciting is about to happen, we get a plot twist that placidly defuses any explosive ending and settles us back into a tiresome moment of silently bypassing the danger. I can understand that Tyler and Granda want us to acknowledge that the island as a whole is after the humans, but then why go out of their way for help, only to have it torn away with a cheap gimmick? With four issues down and three of those dedicated to describing the danger instead of showing it, will the series end with a sorrowful whimper or a big bang?
Grade: C+
Rating: T (Teen)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: May 25th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
