The Mercenary Sea #1 Review

It's hard to fathom why more comic publishers don't tap into the old-school, pulp adventure genre. But if we can't have an ongoing Indiana Jones comic, at least there's Image's latest new series, The Mercenary Sea. It has the unique visuals and setting to scratch a certain itch, even if certain elements of the story could use some fine-tuning and fleshing out.

Writer Kel Symons introduces readers to a motley crew of submarine pirates in this issue. These characters travel the world, sometimes seeking adventure but more often looking for enough high-paying jobs to keep their diesel engines running and the law off their backs. Symons strikes a fine balance between a grand sense of adventure and a more down-to-earth, humorous approach to this world. He also dives right into the story, not burdening readers with unnecessary setup or world-building.

The downside to that approach, however, is that the main cast feel poorly defined at the moment. Most are little more than archetypes - the handsome, charismatic leader, the spunky female crew member, the grizzled mentor. And of course, every character has a mysterious, troubled past. Hopefully the series won't waste much time before bringing more depth to this crew and shedding light on all those mysteries.

Matthew Reynolds brings a very interesting, stylized look to the project that I'm sure is drawing plenty of comparisons to the FX animated series Archer. The characters themselves are marked by bold, thick lines and fairly simple facial work. It's more the colors that stand out and give this book its visual edge. Reynolds frequently zooms out and frames his characters as mere silhouettes against an environment of lush colors and angular shapes. It creates a terrific sense of mood and atmosphere that isn't as apparent in the smaller, dialogue-driven scenes.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

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