Another hint of what’s to come.
Creative Staff:
Story: Zack Kaplan
Art: Alvaro Sarraseca
Colors: Chris Blythe
Letterer: Troy Peteri
What They Say:
When teenagers Hel and Homer Coates learn the underground world below Manhattan may hide the mythical Lost City of Atlantis, and their father may be somehow trapped there, the danger has only just begun! The two teens enlist their friends on a mission to recover the rest of their dad’s research and rescue him before his shadowy employer finishes covering up the failed expedition.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening salvo for Lost City Explorers had some neat ideas to it but left me feeling a bit disconnected from it through the execution. Zack Kaplan has a lot he wants to cover with it but there’s a decent number of characters involved and the flow of it wasn’t as strong as it could be with all that it had to introduce. What helped was having Alvaro Sarraseca on board handling the art duties because it was a great to look at book and that continues with this installment, especially that opening page with Hel and all the detail behind her. Though it’s hard to capture that character design look in smaller panels and with what goes on in this issue that opening page really does set a tone.
It’s little surprise that Hel really wants to figure out what happened to her father since she believes he’s alive and what Leigh told her just reinforces that. There’s some sibling and parental issues at play here with how Homer is handling it, not quite believing all of this but also not showing any emotion at all yet, and the need to do something soon because of the sense of what Sagan Labs is up to and how it could impact them. Hel’s definitely playing the role of the emotional teenager here with an act first and think later attitude and that has them going to their friend Edwin for help in trying to find their dad’s laptop. This reveals some history between Hel and Edwin that could be more interesting than what’s presented here but it just reinforces the terse way that she’s dealing with everyone, which is understandable but also the worst way to actually get help when you really need it.
There’s a lot of “TV/movie” stuff going on here in how they get the information off the laptop at Sagan Labs, with the siblings meeting with Adam to sign papers to get money and sign away any rights to what happened, but you kind of gloss over that because it’s such a familiar trick. I do like that they get the data quickly and it freaks them out as does the reveal that the corporate cleanup element is in full effect in getting ready to track them down if Adam can’t seal the deal. It’s straightforward in how it plays out and knowing that the chase will lead them to going under the city itself isn’t unexpected. With a decent bit at the start with Hel showing how she believes her father is right about how Atlantis has legends mired in the area and that it could very well be below their feet, there’s going to be a draw in finding safety there and potentially their father as well.
In Summary:
I’m still on some uncertain ground when it comes to this series but part of that is just how much it’s trying to convey in the first two issues and some of the more standard fare TV elements to how technology works and what teenagers can get away with. Kaplan makes it all work in that familiar context so there’s no real issues there but it leaves me more excited about what’s to come than anything else. Hel’s approach and intensity at the start is infectious and I want to see where Kaplan is going to take us based on what we saw at the start of the first issue. And, frankly, I want more of Sarraseca’s artwork because it’s just a delight to look at with all its detail, especially as we get into the murky underworld of Manhattan.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: July 18th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
