A twist in the journey.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Terry Moore
What They Say:
Katchoo takes a break on a private island and learns that there is much more to the rogue Parker Girl story than she first thought.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve struggled with almost every issue of this series to date and with the fifth installment I finally hit that unsubscribe button after finishing it. Terry Moore has a big idea at work here and I totally appreciate that, but the pacing and engagement for it just hasn’t been there for the most part and it’s felt a bit more ridiculous in some ways that I care for. There’ve been interesting twists and turns throughout but it lacked a focal point to really connect with for me and being a bi-monthly at best kind of book just made that even harder. And while I’m not looking to recreate what once was all those years ago, the lack of Francine and anything really resembling fun within the book just made it more of a chore than anything else.
With Tambi having orchestrated Katchoo’s retrieval the last time around she’s now been brought to the Riviera for a little recovery. It’s no surprise that Tambi has some solid meds that will do wonders and it’s amusing to see Katchoo feeling as great as she is as it even surprises her a lot. While the two have some fun dialogue at the start about this remote little hotel it quickly turns into a history lesson as Tambi starts talking about Cleopatra, the ties to this location in a general sense, and just what it was Cleopatra accomplished over time. The highlight of her intelligence and that she had a real flavor for mathematics provides some interesting color to it all but bringing the discovery of her tomb – without her in it – with papers that provide a lot of what was involved in the collider just takes me a bridge too far.
This is what starts shifting gears to how everything that happened with Stephanie has Tambi orchestrating it in order for her to get the papers and just using Stephanie, which in turn means Katchoo was used as well. Tambi does try to provide cover for it in just calling it a wonderful story from Katchoo but it feels like it has the right ring of truth, or at least it does for Katchoo and that’s what counts at this stage. That sets things in motion for Katchoo to now being up against Tambi once more since she can’t let things related to the collider project fall to the side either but she can’t even bring herself to call Francine and reconnect with her, even briefly, before jaunting off again with determination. And that, to me, is hugely frustrating since the lack of Francine is so significant.
In Summary:
Perhaps I’ll revisit it down the line when it’s complete and on sale, just to see where it goes and it if can recapture some of that old magic that it had, or spin it into a new life, but with this issue it just made me reach my limit. Too much time with info dump material and basically what feels like a villain’s monologue in order to keep Katchoo out of the way while at the same time giving her everything she needs to want to go after Tambi. It’s not bad in its own way but it’s just not what I was looking for it and each issue made me less and less interested, sadly.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Abstract Studio via ComiXology
Release Date: August 8th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
