Bad things are going down in Mazu Bay.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jonathan Tsuei
Art: Stacey Lee
Colors: Raul Angulo
Letterer: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
When black-market coder Aurora Yi uncovers top-secret data that has tapped into the past lives of the citizens of Mazu Bay, her world is turned upside down. The mega-corporation Synastry Designs wants its data back and is hot on her trail. Aurora has no choice but to turn to the Fox and the Hare, the most feared mercenaries in the city, for protection.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having read a few series from Jonathan Tsuei over the years, I’m always interested when a new project comes up. But I got into each of them at this point understanding that it may take a few issues for me to be able to wrap my head around the worldbuilding concept that they’re trying to bring forth. Tsuei’s focus is on the characters first and that means for me it takes a bit to connect with the world they inhabit, which is why my mind tries to deconstruct and understand first. Tsuei’s paired with Stacey Lee as the artist and we get a really good-looking book here with some really fun designs, especially for the masks, and some of the settings. Particularly with Raul Angulo’s color design that goes for the vibrancy in a neat way with some of the choices.
The premise for this is something that I’m almost a bit unsure of. Basically, it takes place in a kind of near-future place called Mazu Bay where over the years things were dealt with in regard to trafficking problems and other issues, mostly resulting in a number of secretive labs being shut down. We see with our two lead characters here, Fox and Hare, who spend their time dealing with various jobs as kind of cyberpunk superheroes of sorts if you will, that bonded twenty-five years prior with the loss of parents and the kind of authoritarian government that existed. Things have gotten somewhat better over time but the pair are continuing to deal with these things as they find them, which has led them to a former lab where they engage in some shenanigans.
What throws things off for the pair is that they discover a teenager named Aurora in there that has hacked access to the lab and taken on a lot of their secrets, but hasn’t had a chance to see what’s on it. We know it’s going to be connected to those in charge at some point but right now it just puts a bounty on her head and she sticks with Fox and Hare for this, which is certainly fun and makes for a kind of weird proto-family unit. This takes us through more areas of the city as the pair know how to move throughout and to figure out how to stay ahead of the authorities and it works to show how the trio are going to handle things. Especially since there’s a good bit of action and the bounty is clearly a dead or alive piece when you get down to it.
In Summary:
I can see the basics of this well enough and how it’s being put together as it feels like it leans into some of Tsuei’s other works in a familiar enough way. It’s just that I suspect that I have to give it a couple of issues to get a handle on the characters, as they’re very light touches here, and the nature of this world. And the story, which is focusing on the trafficking side of things at least for now. The action plays well and I like the design aspects of it so I’m on board to see where it goes, but I’m hedging my bets a bit on this one until I see more. Tsuei has definitely surprised me before so I’m expecting the same here as it progresses.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: May 25th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99