Gonna try and get back to doing more reviews here… we’ll see how long it lasts…

The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury #295 (#1 of 6)
Brandon Thomas, story
Lee Ferguson & Marc Deering, art
Archaia Studios, $3.95

The title character, “the galaxy’s greatest adventurer,” liberates a powerful artifact from a crimelord and attempts to unlock its secrets, but her trusty sidekick has his own ideas about what should be done with it. The wheel isn’t being reinvented here – it’s as basic and uncomplicated a sci-fi action-adventure story as you can get for a first issue (don’t let the odd numbering fool you; this is, in fact, the first issue of a six-issue mini-series). And yet, when surrounded by so many comics where long-established heroes and villains have become harder to distinguish from each other, it almost seems quaint.

The difference lies, as it often does, in its execution. Through the relationship between Miranda and her sidekick Jack, writer Brandon Thomas clearly delineates the kind of people they both are in terms of ethics. There are things they will and will not do, and they have reasons for each. Jack, however, is willing to go to lengths Miranda won’t, and one suspects that this conflict will lie at the heart of the story as it progresses further.

Still, Miranda stands alone as the hero here. Like all great heroes, she proves through words and deeds that she stands for something greater than ourselves – someone able to make the tough call, no matter what it may cost herself, in the name of an ideal. Yes, it’s easier to relate to protagonists with feet of clay, but when the flaws threaten to overshadow the elements that make those protagonists great, then you get what we have now – “heroes” who make deals with the devil to salve their guilty consciences, create weapons of mass destruction out of paranoia and suspicion to use against their friends, and brainwash their allies in order to keep their dirty secrets from being exposed. It’s difficult to see Miranda succumbing to those kinds of shenanigans.

Lee Ferguson’s art style suits this kind of story – uncluttered and engaging, with an emphasis on elements like spaceships and cityscapes to sell the outer space setting. There’s not much depth of field, though, especially in shots that demand it. The chase on pages six and seven doesn’t feel like a breakneck, edge-of-your-seat sequence, partly due to the composition choices and partly because of the gee-whiz computer colors in the otherwise dull background that add nothing to the scene. When Miranda sky-dives off the catwalk on page nine, it doesn’t look like she’s falling from a great height; in fact it looks quite flat. For a book that relies on action as much as this does, this is a problem that needs to be corrected. Also, facial expressions could be a lot stronger; when the artist doesn’t rely on close-ups of the eyes (which he does a lot), they tend to be a bit bland. And if this is an outer space story, I’d personally like to see more than just humanoid aliens.

Miranda is off to a strong start, with two well-established, rock-solid lead characters that I want to know more about. I also appreciate the creators’ willingness to tweak with convention and do weird things like have the cover be the first panel of the story – not to mention having their first issue be numbered as 295. Still, it needs a little more pizzazz art-wise before it can truly take off. B+

MORE:
the Miranda Mercury website
Brandon Thomas interview @ Pulse
PopCultureShock review
Newsarama (where Thomas’ column “Ambidextrous” appears weekly)