UNDERGROUND #1 ADVANCE REVIEW

[Andrea Speed]

Reviewer: Andrea Speed andy@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good

A cave is a center of controversy in a small Kentucky town.

Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Steve Lieber
Colors: Ron Chan
Publisher: Image


I admit that recap doesn't sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but it's the most concise and spoiler free recap I can give you of what appears to be a female oriented action thriller. The oddly named Wesley is actually a female park ranger who opposes opening up an underground cave as a tourist trap, although she is opposed by the town's biggest entrepreneur and most of the financially depressed town itself. She has some support from a fellow park ranger, Seth, a kind of boyfriend (you'll see), but it's clear that this is an uphill (no pun intended ... well, okay, partially) battle. But some nefarious locals start blasting illegally, and when Seth gets caught in the crossfire, Wes is in a bad position, and just may be the next victim if she doesn't use her wits.

This is pretty much all set up, but it flows pretty well, and you can see how this is going to turn into a (movie friendly) action thriller. My only reservations so far is it's pretty black and white – the good are very good, and the bad guys are only lacking Snidely Whiplash mustaches (although one of them does appear to have a hell of a Fu Manchu), but this is just the beginning. Nuances could emerge.

Although, let's face it - action thrillers don't do nuance that often. And why would you? It slows the action down. So maybe we're good where we are.

The art by Leiber and Chan is just fantastic. Some really good facial expressions and body postures are caught, and the coloring balances that fine line between realistic and high saturation. It could hardly look better.

A solid start from this team; I can't wait to see where this goes from here. Out in September.

[B. Schatz]

I'm really looking forward to this book. Jeff Parker has been nailing it on his books lately, and Steve Lieber... well, just take a look at Whiteout and them other things he did. Pretty, pretty. Hopefully this does well.

[Walt Kneeland]

maybe it's just deja vu, but looking at the cover image there, I'd swear I saw that at the store tonight?

[Andrea Speed]

Really?! It's not supposed to be out until the Whiteout movie is released (late September).