A delightful dive into an engaging if frustrating world.
Creative Staff:
Story: Leah Williams
Art: German Garcia
Colors: Addison Duke
Letterer: Crank!
What They Say:
The Femmes from the Future find themselves on a world entirely covered by oceans. That’s no big deal, what with Earth 70% covered, but for the desert-born Dejah of Mars, some water wings are needed, stat! Really, though, the endless depths are the easy part… it’s the creatures lurking in the unknown that are the real threat, especially the intelligent ones!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of this series delighted me far more than I expected. I really enjoy both characters in their respective series and miniseries so I had no doubt that I’d like the pairing and was curious to see it. But Leah Williams has so beautifully captured the personalities of both that it just makes me grin in a huge way. This is more with Barbarella as it’s similar to the ongoing series we had but with a bit more bounce and innocence in a way that’s utterly delightful. What also helps is that German Garcia is putting together such fantastic visuals and great character designs that they feel so incredibly accessible. Again, this comes more from the curious and almost comical expressions we get out of Barbarella as Dejah largely remains serious for this installment, if not outright panicked or confused.
With the two leads brought together into this strange place, there’s a lot of fun with the early confusion over it all. It’s definitely more of a problem for Dejah, who as good as she is only really knows her own world. Brought to this other place is a huge change for her and watching her attempting to control her panic plays very well. Particularly as Barbarella does her best to try and ease her mind and get her to breathe, all while being somewhat playful and teasing because she’s attracted to Dejah and the way she reacts to things. It’s a light kind of flirting that fits with Barbarella in how she teases while also serving to try and distract Dejah as Barbarella searches for the way out. It’s not exactly the most linear of things but it’s fun to watch as she gets into the science of explaining things that Dejah kind of takes at face value, since it needs to work before they’re eaten.
What we get with all of this is that the placement and the underwater world is all very intentional with Dr. Gitu sending them there. Orchestrating ways for them to travel that’s certainly alien to both but more understandable to Barbarella, they’re eventually taken to the “king” of the species that exists here and discover that there’s a game-changing war playing out – with the last stand about tog et underway. The reveal that this ocean species has built its home on top of a sizable amount of RUST, an unstable space-time piece that’s sought after heavily in Barbarella’s time, places a lot of urgency into things. I love how the king interacts with them both, calling them yellow crown and dark crown based on their hair, and how they do understand the bigger play in why they’re here even if the reason for Dejah is still a mystery. Calling her the critical one definitely makes clear her importance, and why she was hidden in all of Gitu’s notes.
In Summary:
I love this book. Plain and simple. I want posters upon posters of German Garcia’s artwork of both of the characters, though I’ll admit I love their Barbarella interpretation more than Dejah’s. Leah Williams works some really interesting material here in having them figure out what’s going on and the functionality of it all with what Dr. Gitu has put into motion and the bigger story is definitely interesting enough, though I expect a few more twists and turns along the way as it can’t be this clear and straightforward in the second issue. Everything about this book is coming together wonderfully and having these two characters together and on the same page storywise is just fantastic. The banter, the silliness, and the seriousness are all well-balanced and make for an entire book of great scenes that has me wanting more as quickly as possible. Very recommended.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 20th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
